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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: willcousa who wrote (256062)	5/17/2002 8:22:43 AM
From: Scumbria	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Will, Are you saying that you saw the first plane hit the WTC? Obviously you didn't, and I'm quoting the President's own words from his own web site. This is either a smoking gun, or strong evidence of ongoing grammatical problems. I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower

To: willcousa who wrote (256062)	5/17/2002 10:21:27 PM
From: Mr. Whist	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Bush puts profits over patriotism Delay tactics by the Sansabelt crowd Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, senior GOP member of the Senate Finance Committee, sides with Democrats By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 8:02 p.m. ET 5/17/02 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration on Friday blamed high, complex U.S. corporate taxes for a wave of companies relocating headquarters offshore and urged Congress to fix the tax code without damaging the economy. ``I don't think anyone wants to wake up one morning to find every U.S. company headquartered offshore because our tax code drove them away and no one did anything about it,'' said Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill in a written statement. ``This is about competitiveness and complications in the tax code that put U.S.-based companies out of step with their foreign competitors,'' he said. In a 31-page report issued late Friday, the Treasury Department identified many ways U.S. companies can cut their taxes -- from both foreign and U.S. operations -- by setting up a paper parent in Bermuda or another tax haven. Business lobbyists have contended that the change only affects taxes on U.S. firms' foreign income, but the Treasury report said a key immediate issue for Congress is ensuring that taxes from U.S. income aren't dodged as well. Ingersoll-Rand Inc., Tyco International, Cooper Industries and The Stanley Works are among the high-profile firms that have nominally reincorporated in Bermuda or are in the process of doing so. Stanley, the toolmaker longed based on Connecticut, has estimated the move will save it $30 million a year in taxes. The Treasury report listed several options for Congress to consider, none of them easy and many nearly impossible to accomplish in an election year. House Republicans are beginning to rally around a measure by Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., that would impose a moratorium on the relocations from Sept. 11, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2003, while lawmakers work on a long-term fix. ``Congress could be bogged down in the complexity of this issue as we try to find an answer,'' Johnson said Friday. The Stanley move has emerged as a major issue in Johnson's re-election battle in a redrawn district against Democratic Rep. Jim Maloney, who supports a bill introduced by Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., that permanently cuts off the tax advantages. Significantly, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas said Friday that Johnson's approach might be the way to go. ``At the current time, absent a legislative solution, a moratorium sounds like a good idea,'' said Thomas, R-Calif. ``However, we will continue to work on a legislative fix.'' Democrats called that an attempt to quell voter outrage before the congressional elections. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., noted that GOP leaders this week refused to allow a vote on his amendment that would have closed the Bermuda loophole. The Treasury report, Rangel said, ``takes the side of companies that have decided to put profits over patriotism. It endorses their excuse that 'our tax code drove them away.''' Some Republicans also advocate an immediate, permanent fix. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, senior GOP member of the Senate Finance Committee, said Treasury has ``the right mindset'' in focusing on the complex tax code ``but we need to act now on expatriations, not a year from now.'' The Treasury's acting chief of tax policy, Pam Olson, said Congress must take care not to take actions that ``undermine the fundamental strength of our economy.'' ``We want companies to keep their headquarters and their jobs here,'' she said.