Next year, 2006, is a Congressional election year and that is reason enough to believe that members of the House and Senate are not about to cancel deductions for home mortgage interest and state and local taxes.
President George W. Bush in January appointed an advisory panel on federal tax reform to make the U.S. tax code fairer, simpler and more pro-growth. On Nov. 1 the group delivered its report to U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. The Secretary promised to read the report and then make some recommendations to the White House.
The sense around Washington, D.C., however, is that the Administration is not eager to embark on wide-ranging reform right now. Indeed, for some months there have been suggestions that Snow, not the current tax system, was more likely to be replaced.
