Press Briefing by Scott McClellan

Press Briefing by Scott McClellan: "Q Scott, when the President was asked about tax reform, or when he mentioned it last week, he voluntarily said that whatever is done he would like to preserve the charitable deduction and a mortgage deduction. Well, there's a lot of ideas floating around, like a flat tax, national sales tax. By their very nature, in their purest form, if you go either of those routes, you don't have deductions. So when Vice President Cheney was also asked, he cited the 1986 Tax Reform Act as an example, not necessarily a decision. But if you go that route, what you basically do is lower your rates and reduce the number of tax brackets in exchange for less deductions. Is that something the White House is considering when they talk about a tax --
MR. McCLELLAN: Look, Paula, I think it's way too premature to speculate when an advisory panel hasn't even been appointed. The President said this is going to be a top priority for him. He laid out some clear principles to guide the advisory panel, and we will look "