Deeper spending cuts to balance US budget
Source: Agencies |
December 2, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A PRESIDENTIAL panel's revised plan to balance the United States budget yesterday proposed deeper spending cuts than an earlier draft and a more modest tax code overhaul, seeking wider support among lawmakers.
The revised plan resembles the original November 10 draft in many ways, but cuts discretionary spending more aggressively, offers more alternatives to reforming the tax code, and softens proposed changes in Social Security pensions.
It represents an effort to build more support among Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the panel, who are divided over a range of tax and spending questions.
The plan recommended capital gains and dividends be taxed at ordinary income tax rates - instead of the lower present rate of 15 percent - or taxed at a lower rate if paid for by higher rates of ordinary income tax.
The proposals were discussed yesterday at a meeting of the panel and voted on tomorrow, but it was not expected to win the support of 14 of the panel's 18 members, a threshold that would trigger a congressional vote on it.
As in the widely-criticized original draft, the revised version recommends lower corporate tax rates and calls for a 15-cent per gallon increase in the gasoline tax, with revenues to be devoted to transport.
In a symbolic gesture, it calls for cutting the budgets of the White House and Congress by 15 percent and immediately freezing the salaries of Congress members, along with a three-year freeze on non-military federal worker pay.
The revised plan resembles the original November 10 draft in many ways, but cuts discretionary spending more aggressively, offers more alternatives to reforming the tax code, and softens proposed changes in Social Security pensions.
It represents an effort to build more support among Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the panel, who are divided over a range of tax and spending questions.
The plan recommended capital gains and dividends be taxed at ordinary income tax rates - instead of the lower present rate of 15 percent - or taxed at a lower rate if paid for by higher rates of ordinary income tax.
The proposals were discussed yesterday at a meeting of the panel and voted on tomorrow, but it was not expected to win the support of 14 of the panel's 18 members, a threshold that would trigger a congressional vote on it.
As in the widely-criticized original draft, the revised version recommends lower corporate tax rates and calls for a 15-cent per gallon increase in the gasoline tax, with revenues to be devoted to transport.
In a symbolic gesture, it calls for cutting the budgets of the White House and Congress by 15 percent and immediately freezing the salaries of Congress members, along with a three-year freeze on non-military federal worker pay.
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