Posted on 11/17/2004 6:51:52 AM PST by Mike Fieschko
The Senate's top tax-writer expressed doubts Tuesday about prospects for a major overhaul of the tax code, dealing a blow to one of President Bush (news - web sites)'s top priorities two weeks after his re-election.Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said comprehensive tax reform would be "difficult" to do. "I'm not one to spend a lot of time tilting at windmills," he said.
Grassley said Bush would have to aggressively use his "bully pulpit" to win wider popular support. After the election, Bush said he had earned "political capital, and now I intend to spend it" by pushing for changes in the tax code and Social Security (news - web sites), among other things. But Grassley said, "I'm not sure how much political capital (the president) is prepared to spend on it."
Grassley's view is important because all tax bills go through his committee. In an interview with USA TODAY, he said Bush made a mistake by not talking about tax reform more often and more explicitly in the campaign. "I think there was a missed opportunity," he said.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said Bush "talked daily during the campaign about the importance of making the tax code simpler, fairer and more conducive to economic growth, and he looks forward to working with Congress on this priority."
Bush has called for simplifying the tax code in a "neutral" way that would not significantly raise or reduce tax revenue. That could make changes tougher, because any big tax cuts for some would have to be paid for with increases for others, creating winners and losers.
The White House is assembling a bipartisan panel that's expected to make recommendations before Bush settles on a specific proposal next year. Among his options is the replacement of the progressive income tax with a single, "flat" income tax rate or retail sales tax.
Grassley suggested that he favors more incremental changes: making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, closing loopholes, shielding middle-income Americans from tax increases, and reducing the tax burden on savings and investment.
The last time Congress overhauled the tax code was in 1986 under President Reagan. That law broadened the tax base by slashing loopholes. It collapsed 15 income tax brackets, topped by a 50% rate, into two rates of 15% and 28%. Since then, new tax breaks have been added and the number of brackets raised to six, topped by a 35% rate.
Grassley is enthralled to K-Street.
I don't know about that. There are major defense contractors in 49 states in the Union. There is not a major defense contractor in Iowa. For years, defense contractors have (rightfully) been pushing for a major overhaul to the Federal False Claims Act, and Grassley has simply refused to allow any changes to what amounts to a bad bill that costs American taxpayers a helluva lot of money. First thing that happens when Grassley retires is the FCA gets amended.
I can't speak for Grassley all the time, but he is singlehandedly standing in the way of much needed FCA reform, and this doesn't appear to be his finest hour, either.
I think he is a farmer.
He's been there too long and has become part of the problem.
It sounds like it. It's hard to find any of them of whom that's not true, unfortunately.
I've heard a flat tax would/should be 15% and the sales tax 23% with a lot of different scenerios for each. It just seems to me that instituting one of these would be a lot simpler than the gargantuan IRS code we have now. I am not an accountant, just my opinion.
As a degreed accountant and corporate finance type, I can promise you that there will be Freepers advocating drastic changes that would be absolutely hammered by those changes. Tax policy and effects of changes are very, very complex. I hate the cost of complexity and would like to see us move to a much simpler system, but Grassley is correct: it won't be easy or painless.
Guess I'm just hoping against hope for a simpler life under Bush II!
And temporary. The Founders never envisioned a full time legislature or 20 years in the senate for anyone...
FWWWEEEEEEEEETT!
Use of logic and common sense in a Freeper hot-button issue discussion, ten yards penalty, still first down.
:-)
Re writing the tax coce would be difficult.... However Eliminating the tax code for a nat. sales tax would not. He knows what he is saying and not saying.
FLAT TAX ! FLAT TAX! FLAT TAX!
Tax reform PING!
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