Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Good News from Bush's Tax Panel

President Bush's tax advisory panel, meeting in Washington today, laid out some good pro-growth options that would limit tax breaks for homeowners and employer-provided health-care benefits. They also shyed away from the national sales tax option and moved more towards a value-added tax, but concentrated on measures that would "eliminate or restrict tax preferences already embedded in the law."

David Walker, head of the Government Accountability office, said Sept. 23 that uncollected revenue from these incentives has tripled since 1974 to $730 billion. Essentially this uncollected revenue must be made up for through other means, but simply enough it equates to an additional $2,561 tax burden for every American. Although it isn't that simple, it shows how much of an effect tax breaks subsidizing housing and health-care have on the economy.

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