Panel to Recommend Major Tax Law Changes

NEW YORK -- The president's tax-reform advisory panel is submitting two final proposals Tuesday morning to the Treasury Department, both of which offer significant changes to the tax breaks people have come to expect -- as well as to the complexity and costs of filing that many have come to detest, CNN/Money reported.

Speaking on Bloomberg TV Tuesday morning, panel chairman Connie Mack, a former senator from Florida, urged taxpayers to "look at the entire package and not pick one portion of it to determine if it's good for them."

Here are some of the key changes the panel is proposing that are common to both of their proposals:

• Eliminate the alternative minimum tax
• Alter homeowners' tax breaks
• Eliminate the marriage penalty
• Repeal the federal deduction of the state and local tax deductions
• Reduce the number of tax brackets
• Simplify tax filing

The panel also proposes creating two new credits: one for family and one for work, each of which would take the place of a multitude of credits and exemptions currently in place.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 11/1/05