U.S. Panel to Propose Restructuring Tax Code
As Americans faced today's deadline for filing income tax returns, President Bush's advisory panel on tax reform said it will propose major changes in the tax code this summer.
Former senator John B. Breaux (D-La.), co-chairman of the panel, said yesterday that the group is "absolutely" intent on recommending a restructuring of the income tax system rather than a modest simplification or tinkering around the edges.
He also said he favors limiting to one or two the number of tax-reform options that the panel will submit to the Treasury Department by July 31, rather than four or five options that would include less extensive reforms.
Breaux said the recommended options could include a restructuring similar to the sweeping legislation passed in 1986 or perhaps even a "new tax system" -- likely featuring a consumption tax, such as a sales tax, or perhaps a flat tax, in which all income is taxed at one rate.
The advisory panel issued a strong statement on Wednesday calling the current tax code "unstable and unpredictable."
GOP Rejects Move For Ethics Task Force
House Republicans rejected an effort by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to appoint a bipartisan task force "to restore public confidence in the ethics process."
Pelosi proposed the task force as a way of breaking a stalemate that has prevented the ethics committee from organizing in the new Congress. Ron Bonjean, communications director for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), said Democrats "chose to shut the committee down" so they can "level charge after charge against our members without the ethics committee resolving them."
In a show of support for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) from his party's freshman class, Reps. Patrick T. McHenry (N.C.) and Lynn A. Westmoreland (Ga.) sent Pelosi a letter, asking her to call off attacks on him "and start talking about policy."
On another ethics matter, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) asked the House Resources Committee to investigate lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his representation of the Northern Mariana Islands. Abramoff's fees have been questions by the islands' auditors. His spokesman has said they were proper.
Bill Would Require Filling of Prescriptions
Addressing the growing controversy over pharmacists who refuse to dispense birth control or emergency contraceptives, several lawmakers unveiled a bill that would require pharmacies to fill all prescriptions.
Pharmacies would have to fill all prescriptions, including those for birth control pills and the "morning after" pill. The bill applies to pharmacies, not to an individual pharmacist.
The sponsors were led by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (N.Y.), both Democrats. The legislation is expected to face steep obstacles in the Republican-controlled Congress.
People on the other side of the debate would like to see legislation protecting pharmacists who believe such drugs are forms of abortion, said Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life, a group that provides legal advice and support to pharmacists.
According to the National Women's Law Center, women across the country have run into problems getting prescriptions filled.
-- Compiled from reports
by staff writer Mike Allen
and news services
