White House Postpones Ta Reform

By Allison Bell

June 17, 2005 at 08:00 PM

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President Bush says he will wait at least 2 months to start revising the tax code.[@@]

The president has talked about making the tax code simpler and more fair, and officials in his administration have talked about shifting toward more consumption-based taxes, away from an income-based tax strategy.

But now the president has signed a document, Executive Order 13369, giving the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform until Sept. 30 to come up with proposed reforms.

The original deadline had been July 31.

Former Sen. John Breaux, a Democrat who represented Louisiana and now serves as co-chairman of the reform panel, and former Sen. Connie Mack, a Florida Republican who serves as the other co-chairman, say their panel was on track to issue a report by July but now is comfortable with the idea of taking more time.

Some observers say the president may have put off dealing with tax reform because of concerns about progress on Social Security reform and other issues.

The text of the executive order postponing the reporting deadline for the president's tax reform team is on the Web at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050616-7.html

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