Bush not considering federal sales tax, officials say
WASHINGTON – Administration officials on Wednesday denied that President Bush is considering a national sales tax, a day after the Republican incumbent created a stir by calling such a tax “an interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously.”
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry seized on Bush’s comments – made while the president was campaigning in Florida on Tuesday – and suggested such a plan would create a new tax on working families.
“Families already squeezed by rising health care costs, gas costs and college costs would have to carry a whole new tax burden,” Kerry said in a statement.
The flap was prompted by an exchange between Bush and a supporter who asked during a town-hall meeting in Niceville, Fla., about Bush’s position on legislation for a national sales tax.
“He’s talking about getting rid of the current tax system and replacing it with a national sales tax,” Bush told his audience. “It’s an interesting idea. You know, I’m not exactly sure how big the national sales tax is going to have to be, but it’s the kind of interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously.”
Conservatives have pushed for the administration to do more to overhaul the tax code, with some calling for either a so-called flat income tax or some variation of a federal sales tax.
Bush and his senior aides have suggested that overhauling the tax code would be a second-term priority if the president is re-elected. Bush said at the Florida meeting: “We’re working to simplify the tax code.”
But neither Bush nor his aides have been specific on what tax-code changes were under review, and never before suggested anything as radical as replacing the income tax with a federal sales tax.
“The president has always believed in lower taxes and a simpler, fairer tax code,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
But, he added, “There’s nothing more to announce at this time.”
Later, two administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Bush was not considering a national sales tax.
Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters in a conference call arranged by the Bush-Cheney campaign that he favored looking at “well-thought-out alternate tax structures” and that his tax-writing panel planned to do so.
“We have one of the more regressive tax structures in the world today that basically is a 19th century concept,” he said.
But, he added, “We should get that revenue from people in the least destructive way possible.”