Contra Costa Times: Bush Advisory Panel offers tax reforms favoring rich

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/12940052.htm

California Treasurer Phil Angelides called the recommendations to scale back the mortgage interest deduction and kill the state and local tax deduction "a double-barreled blast aimed squarely at California and the middle class." California, he said, has unusually high home values and state and local taxes.

"People making under $100,000 are going to be paying more," Angelides said. People making more, he said, will generally pay less. Sen. Dianne Feinstein added her voice to those who objected to the proposals, saying they could "trigger a devastating trend of mortgage defaults." And from the right, the Free Enterprise Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group promoting smaller government, said the proposals would enrich the already wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

The nine-member President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, headed by two former senators, Connie Mack, R-Fla., and John Breaux, D-La., was asked by Bush to produce alternatives to the current tax system that would be simple and fair and promote growth without either gaining or losing revenue.

It plans to fill out the details of its two recommendations and send them to Treasury Secretary John Snow by Nov. 1. Breaux said he hoped that Bush would turn the panel's recommendations into a proposal of his own in time for his State of the Union address in January, and that Congress could work on revising the tax system next year.

[texpatriot2004]

1. They are dismantling the middle class. It's so blatant. n.t

[fasttense]

2. They don't want an American middle class anymore. We have served our

usefulness and it's time for the middle class to go back to being poor.

[FloridaPat]

3. I remember Reagan's tax simplification changes. The tax prep books

went from 1 inch to 3 inches and I couldn't figure out my income tax anymore. I sure this is more of the same. Reagan said the only people who would be paying more were the rich. I didn't realize that $30,000 was considered rich.

I am suprised the repubs think they can get rid of the mortgage break at this point. Reagan tried it. Not only were the people extremely unhappy - so were the banks and insurance companies. Hopefully indictments will keep the repubs busy until 2006, the Democrats can take back the house and senate and keep them busy with impeachment proceedings.