Bush Tax Panel May Face Conflict with Firms' Clients

NEW YORK -- Three members of President Bush's panel to simplify taxes -- Chairman Connie Mack, Vice Chairman John Breaux and former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rossotti -- have business interests that would be affected by the commission's recommendations, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

Three days after being named to the panel, Breaux, a former Democratic senator from Louisiana, joined Washington lobbying firm Patton Boggs LLP, which represents companies such as Mars Inc. on tax issues. Mack, a former Republican senator from Florida, is an adviser at Shaw Pittman LLP, which has lobbied the Internal Revenue Service. Rossotti is on the board of Liquid Engines, a Sunnyvale, Calif., software company that helps companies reduce taxes.

“You're asking these people, if they do a good job, to create a system that would be essentially bad for their businesses,'' said Celia Wexler, director of research at Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog group in Washington. “You're essentially asking some of these folks to serve two masters and that is something that raises some concern.''

Neither Breaux nor Mack represent clients' tax interests, and both firms have taken steps to ensure they don't during their service on the panel. Rossotti isn't involved in management at Liquid Engines.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 1/19/05