Reply #65: related: US tax panel urges mortgage interest deduction cut

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http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-11-01T134653Z_01_N01416371_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-TREASURY-TAXES.XML

WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - A blue-ribbon panel appointed by U.S. President George W. Bush will recommend voiding most tax deductions and lowering tax rates to make the U.S. tax system simpler and more efficient, its chairman said on Tuesday.

"We're going to eliminate almost every deduction presently in the tax code," the panel's chairman, former Florida Republican Sen. Connie Mack, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

The panel, which was created in January, 2005, will present its recommendations to Treasury Secretary John Snow later in the day. Snow said on Monday he expects to review the proposal and forward it to the White House by the end of the year.

The panel would lower the ceiling of mortgages on which taxpayers could claim deductions for interest to between $400,000 and $425,000 from around $1 million, Mack said. The panel will also suggest providing a credit -- as opposed to a deduction -- for mortgage interest.

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