The Wall Street Journal had an interesting piece today about Bush’s likely trouble in forcing a “tax reform” bill through Congress, since several key Republicans seem skeptical about the idea. A quote from one Republican in particular jumped out at me.
If President Bush wants to overhaul the tax code before leaving office, he may have to move faster and do more to force consensus among the Republicans in Congress who can make it happen.
Mr. Bush isn’t expected to unveil his tax plan before next fall at the earliest. But Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa says he needs to do so no later than March 1, since he believes Congress must pass it next year if it is to happen at all.
This is consistent with Grassley’s concerns of recent weeks. After all, the Iowa senator compared Bush’s reform plan to “tilting at windmills” a couple of weeks ago.
But the real challenge will be Grassley’s counterpart on the other side of the Hill, House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas of California.
While [Grassley] calls it “very tough” to repeal popular tax-code features such as the mortgage-interest deduction, the acerbic Mr. Thomas says “I don’t think credits or subsidies are a good idea” for the tax code. “The Holy Grail,” he declared in a recent speech, “is lower rates.”
On the surface, it’s interesting that Thomas is asserting himself in a fight over taxes with the White House, but I think there’s more to it than that. In fact, if Thomas really is opposed to all tax “credits or subsidies,” the Dems need to highlight this fact as often as possible.
After all, consider what’s included among these credits and subsidies in the federal tax code: the home mortgage deduction, child tax credits, small business incentives, health care subsidies, research-and-development grants, energy-efficiency incentives, and tax credits for charitable donations, among many, many others.
So, here’s the question I’d like Dems to pose to Thomas: Which of these credits and subsidies does Thomas want to eliminate? He says he thinks all credits and subsidies are the wrong way to go, so let’s get him on the record being more specific.
Would that make a great ad? The top Republican tax writer in the House wants to eliminate the home mortgage deduction and child tax credits, which Democrats continue to support. How do you suppose that would play in Peoria?