Report: Bush to Delay Tax Overhaul

NEW YORK -- A major overhaul of the tax code will be pushed aside to next year as the Bush administration grapples with the president's pledge to overhaul Social Security and a budget plan that demands difficult cuts to non-defense spending, a newspaper report said Tuesday.

President Bush will soon name a panel to examine tax policy, but he will leave it to the Treasury Department to monitor the panel's work, The Washington Post said.

"The likelihood of a really dramatic change is fairly low," Kevin A. Hassett, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, told the newspaper. According to the Post, analysts widely expect Treasury Secretary John Snow to only recommend incremental changes to the code.

A White House spokeswoman told the newspaper that an overhaul of the tax code remains a White House priority. But the Post quoted an economic adviser as saying the administration is not likely to deal with the tax issue until 2006, and then only if Social Security and budget issues have been resolved.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 12/28/04