Abolishing North Dakota's "long form" for filing income taxes would affect relatively few taxpayers, and save about $50,000, Tax Commissioner Rick Clayburgh said.

"We ask you whether it is fair that 98 percent of our taxpayers subsidize a tax system that provides minimal benefit for a few," Clayburgh said during a Senate Finance and Taxation Committee hearing Wednesday.

Clayburgh is advocating the Legislature's approval of a bill that would eliminate the long form. It has higher tax rates than the "short form," which most North Dakotans use, although the long form has some deductions and exemptions that are not included on the short form.

A critic of the change says taking that step would raise taxes for some North Dakotans. Eudora Sticka, a volunteer tax counselor, said the savings can be significant for some families.

She and her husband save about $200 in state income taxes annually by using the form, Sticka said at Wednesday's hearing. The form allows the exclusion of her husband's post office pension from the couple's taxable income, Sticka said. The option is not available on the short form.

"Unless you allow the exemptions (on the short form) it is, in effect, a tax increase for certain individuals," she said.

Clayburgh said the department, in reviewing long-form tax filings, hadn't observed any savings above $100. The average savings is less than $25, he said.

The Senate will vote on the proposal later. The House has already endorsed eliminating the long form.

At present, North Dakotans choose one of two tax forms when preparing their state income taxes. Almost everyone uses the short form, which is formally known as ND-1.

The "short form" nickname is a leftover from the days when the form was a simple green postcard, but it is a misnomer now. Both ND-1 and the long form, ND-2, are two pages long.

It is cheaper for most people to use the short form. The long form's tax rates range from 2.67 percent to 12 percent, while the short form's rate begin at 2.1 percent and top out at 5.54 percent.

The long form has 23 deductions and eight credits that aren't on the short form, but usually more than one deduction is needed to overcome the higher tax rates, Tax Department officials say.

Sen. Tom Trenbeath, R-Cavalier, said he wanted to move the long form's exclusion for military retirement pay to the short form, an idea Clayburgh did not oppose. It would cost $84.5 million over two years to incorporate all the long form's credits and deductions to the short form, the Tax Department estimates.

Clayburgh said getting rid of the long form would also make electronic tax filing more widely available, and help tax software companies, which are reluctant to offer the long form because too few taxpayers use it. Taxpayers who use the long form cannot file their tax returns electronically, Clayburgh said.

The bill is HB1155.