Policy Areas: Tax Policy

After President Bush’s reelection, speculation on the Hill placed the President’s effort to overhaul the current tax code as a top priority for his second term.  On January 7, 2005 President Bush announced appointees to a new Tax Reform Commission, "I believe this is an essential task for our country — it's a task that will treat our taxpayers more fairly," Bush said.  Former Senators Connie Mack (R-FL), and John Breaux (D-LA), will be the chair and co-chair of the commission, respectively.  The additional of Democrat John Breaux to the conservative-created commission will undoubtedly broaden the current Tax Reform debate to include divergent voices to the commission as Breaux is rated as a "Big Spender" on his previous tax votes by the National Taxpayers Union.

Regardless of political affiliation, virtually all Americans agree that taxes should be simple, fair, and efficient.  Disagreement arises only over the debate of how to define and achieve those objectives.  With the President’s strong emphasis placed on Tax Reform and with the tax code and supporting regulations now consuming some 9 million words and more than 60,000 pages, Tax Reform has become as important an issue as ever before.  From the left to the right, reforming the tax code to foster fairer economic growth while creating a simpler system will be a historic effort for all Americans.

CRS Issue Briefs for Congress: Tax Policy

• State and Local Taxes and the Federal Alternative Minimum Tax
  by Steven Maguire, Congressional Research Service

• Major Tax Issues 
  by David L. Brumbaugh, Congressional Research Service

:: View all issue briefs ::

Reports & Publications: Tax Policy

• Bush Administration Tax Policy: Summary and Outlook
  by William Gale and Peter Orszag, Tax Policy Center

• Tax Reform: Prospects and Possibilities
  by C. Eugene Steuerle, Urban Institute and Tax Policy Center

:: View all articles ::

Organizations: Tax Policy

• Tax Policy Center

• American Tax Policy Institute

• Burch Center Tax Policy and Public Finance

:: View all organizations ::

Key Players: Tax Policy

• Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) - Senate Committee on Finance

• Former Senator John B. Breaux (D-LA) - Tax Reform Commission

• Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) - Senate Committee on Finance, Joint Committee on Taxation

• Former Senator Connie Mack (R-FL) - Tax Reform Commission

• Senator William M. Thomas (R-CA) - Joint Committee on Taxation

• Robert J. Carroll - Department of the Treasury

• Helen Hubbard - Department of the Treasury

• Eric M. Engen - American Enterprise Institute

• R. Glenn Hubbard - American Enterprise Institute

• Grover G. Norquist - Americans for Tax Reform

• Chris Edwards - Cato Institute

• William A. Niskanen - Cato Institute

• Stephen Slivinski - Cato Institute

• Bill Beach - Heritage Foundation

• Stuart Butler - Heritage Foundation

• Alison Fraser - Heritage Foundation

• Dan Mitchell - Heritage Foundation

• Alan J. Auerbach - National Tax Association

• Scott A. Hodge - Tax Foundation

• Len Burman - Tax Policy Center

• William Gale, PhD. - Tax Policy Center

• Peter Orszag - Tax Policy Center

• Gene Steuerle - Tax Policy Center

• Joel Slemrod - University of Michigan.

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