The next tax bill.

• Author: Schnepper, Jeff A.

Samuel, the last of the prophets, acceded to the demands of his people to give them a king, but first he warned them: "You want a King? Be prepared to pay taxes, and taxes, and taxes . . . and taxes upon taxes." And that is just what they did. That was the beginning of the reign of King Solomon. The year? - 1040 B.C.

In Coventry, England, the wife of a Saxon dignitary got fed up with taxes. To protest excessive taxation, she rode through the streets on a white horse covered only by her long blonde hair. The woman was Lady Godiva. The year? - 1040 A.D.

Lady Godiva may have been the first taxpayer to lose her shirt in the name of excessive taxation, but certainly not the last. As this column was being written, Congress was finalizing the basis of the newest tax increase. While the content of that bill will be the topic of an upcoming piece, let us take a step into the future and look at what may be Americans' next tax bill.

Pres. Clinton's Health Care Reform will not be passed or even seriously presented to Congress this year. Its cost will require additional revenue, which, in turn, will necessitate either a decrease in expenditures or another new tax bill. Neither of those two alternatives are politically feasible during 1993. Remember, though, 1994 will be a new tax year and, whatever shape health care reform takes, it will require new revenues :

The Clinton Administration is giving serious consideration to consumption taxes as it formulates its future economic plan. According to Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen, some type clearly is in the nation's future. Bentsen is not alone. Deputy Office of Management and Budget Director Alice Rivlin, a wellknown advocate of moving to a consumed-income tax system, has said that the idea "very definitely should be explored."

There are, however, problems with consumption taxes that will have to be worked out. Primary among them would be difficulties with collection and regressivity. Whether the technical problems of the transition would be worth the gain is a question that has no answer at this point.

According to Peter Cobb, deputy chief of staff to the Joint Committee on Taxation, interest in a broad-based consumption tax appears to be growing in Congress. If Congress eventually accepts some type of consumption tax system - whether value-added (VAT) or another approach - it only will do so if the consumption tax is a replacement for a large portion of the current income tax system. To date...