Report Cited Drawbacks to Tax Reform (washingtonpost.com)

Report Cited Drawbacks to Tax Reform (washingtonpost.com): "Finally, the study said, fundamental simplification of the tax code would 'run counter' to Bush's other tax policy goals. The president doubled the child tax credit from $500 to $1,000 and has championed a significant expansion of tax credits for charitable donations, proposals he wants Congress to make permanent.
But such 'social policy goals' are precisely what has complicated the tax code, the Treasury said. Recent studies have suggested three successive tax cuts signed by Bush have made the tax code significantly more complex. And with the political constituencies of such tax credits now firmly entrenched, 'it is not clear that widely popular preferences in the current tax system . . . can be eliminated or even reduced,' the Treasury found. "