Tax Reform Panel Calls for Reform

The Federal Advisory Panel on Tax Reform submitted its recommendations to Treasury Secretary John Snow today on ways to make the tax code simpler, fairer, and more conducive to economic growth. The report, “Simple, Fair, & Pro Growth: Proposals to Fix America’s Tax System,” includes two tax reform plans–the Simplified Income Tax Plan and the Growth and Investment Tax Plan, both of which would significantly revise the tax law for individuals and businesses. Both plans would also eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

All of the tax reform panel members conceded that many of the proposed changes would not be popular, but taken as a whole, both of the proposals “accomplish the Panel’s objectives,” panel members said in releasing the report. The panel urged the Bush administration and Congress to “consider [its] recommendations carefully and to move forward with reform.” The panel said it “believes without large-scale changes, and continued commitment to avoiding complexity and special tax breaks, the tax code will become even more confusing, unfair, and damaging to our economy.

In accepting the report, Snow said in a prepared statement that the panel’s “advice is the starting point, and I look forward to reading their recommendations and considering them carefully before I make a recommendation to the President.”