Key US Democrat says need to go slow on tax policy
Wed Nov 8, 2006 12:16 PM ET
NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) - The Democrat in line to take over as chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' tax-writing panel said on Wednesday it was too early to confront the question of what to do about tax cuts set to expire in 2010.
"It would be irresponsible to dictate what we would be doing on the tax-writing committee when we have no idea what the economy is going to look like in 2010," Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, the top Democrat on powerful House Ways and Means Committee, said at a news conference.
Tax cuts enacted by President George W. Bush and the Republican Congress are due to expire at the end of 2010. Unless Congress acts, taxes will rise across the board, including income taxes, rates on capital gains and dividends and estate taxes.
Democrats, who have mostly opposed the tax cuts Bush has won during his presidency, captured control of the House in congressional elections on Tuesday, putting Rangel in position to lead the committee that oversees U.S. tax policy and trade issues.
During the campaign, Democratic candidates argued the U.S. tax code encouraged companies to "off-shore," or relocate jobs in foreign countries, and said they wanted to change the tax code to remove such incentives.
"We have to make certain that we use the tax code not to encourage jobs going overseas," Rangel said at the news conference.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. |
