Equity and fairness are the key goals of the “mother of all tax reforms” proposed by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel.
Republicans have criticized the plan as the “mother of all tax hikes, but Rangel, D-N.Y., defended his bill in this week’s edition of “C-SPAN Newsmaker.” He said the measure “is good for American business” because it would close tax loopholes and give the same lower rate to all corporations rather than favoring a few.
“Everything that I do in the [tax] code, the president promised to do,” Rangel added, noting that President Bush in the past has promised to close tax loopholes and eliminate the alternative minimum tax, which aims to ensure that wealthy people pay at least some taxes despite write-offs. Rangel also said he is open to compromise.
“As chairman of the committee, I did not say ‘my way or the highway,’ as it used to be when Republicans were in charge. I welcome alternatives to the Democratic bill. I haven’t gotten anything.”
Bush has threatened to veto the bill, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she hopes the president will “dig deeply into his heart and think about the children in America who don’t have healthcare. Because if not, I think that the president is giving new meaning to the words, ’suffer, little children’” from the Bible.
Pelosi’s office has posted speeches from other Democratic lawmakers online, including:
The National Republican Congressional Committee has a new advertisement that chastises House Democrats who voted to pass an emergency spending bill for military operations that includes money for peanut storage costs and other “pork” projects
The ad includes an admission from House Ways and Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., that Democratic leaders included the spending in such a “serious” bill “because they needed the votes.”
Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He officially announced his candidacy today in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Things are started to coalesce and I feel very, very optimistic about my future,” Thompson said. “I am the reliable conservative. My record shows that. All that people have to do is look at my record, and I am one individual that they can count on.”
This week’s show also featured an appearance by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill.
The guests at NBC’s “Meet the Press,” meanwhile included Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and panel member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, discussing the future of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., talking about tax policy.
Social Security, taxes and trade — those topics were on the agenda when Bloomberg News interviewed New York Democrat Charles Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
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