DEMS GET TAX-REFORM FEVER

On the third and final day ofGOP-led hearings on junking the federal income tax, several senior House Democrats broke with the Clinton Administration and said they'd gotten religion. "It's time for massive, radical change," Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) told the House Ways and Means Committee, adding that he would offer a major reform proposal next month. The panel's chairman, Rep. Dick Archer (R-Tx.), favors alternatives including a national retail sales tax and value-added taxes. Rep. Sam Gibbons of Florida, the senior Democrat on Ways and Means, proposed his version of a value-added tax, which is levied at all stages of production. Another panel member, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), offered a scheme to reduce income taxes gradually while increasing taxes on consumption spending.