Bush Switching Priority From Social Security to Taxes

NEW YORK -- The Bush administration is beginning to segue from its failed effort to overhaul Social Security to rewriting the tax code, Bloomberg reported.

President George W. Bush said yesterday there is a ``diminished appetite'' for changing the way Social Security is funded, the first time he's conceded congressional action is unlikely this year, Bloomberg reported. His comments came four days after the White House directed its tax advisory panel, headed by former Senators Connie Mack and John Breaux, to recommend ways to revamp the tax code by Nov. 1, ending an indefinite delay in its work.

The tax panel's findings originally were due on July 31, before Bush moved the deadline to Sept. 30 to avoid having the debate obscured by judicial nominations and attention on Social Security. The deadline was later extended again, and Bush on Sept. 30 set the panel's new Nov. 1 deadline.

So far, panel chairman Mack, a former Republican senator from Florida, has said only that it has a consensus to repeal the individual alternative minimum tax, a levy originally intended for the wealthiest Americans that is increasingly affecting middle- income families, Bloomberg reported.

The tax panel will hold its penultimate meeting on Oct. 11, where it may discuss issues ranging from changes to the home mortgage interest deduction to the merits of tax preferences for employer-provided health care, spokeswoman Tara Bradshaw said. A national sales tax or a European-style value added tax may also be considered by the panel, Bloomberg reported.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 10/5/05