Snow: National Sales Tax still not ruled out: "everything is on the table" [View All]

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

The tax panel is to look at a broad array of options, ranging from scrapping the existing income-tax code in favor of a consumption tax, to making more modest adjustments to the code.

The group will develop a list of alternatives and submit that to the Treasury Department, which will refine them and report back to Bush by the end of 2005. The panel is to report back its recommendations by the end of July.

Treasury Secretary John Snow said after the ceremony the panel "would take a hard look at everything" and that "everything is on the table." He said the aim would be to reduce complexity in the tax code.

That means that popular deductions for millions of Americans -- like interest payments on home mortgages and charitable contributions, among others -- could be affected.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/07/news/economy/bush_taxes.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes