Clinton: Don't Scrap Tax Code

President Clinton today said a plan with wide Republican support in Congress to abolish the nation's income tax code is "an irresponsible scheme" that would be "simply reckless for the economy."

Declared Clinton: "No one concerned about fighting crime would even think about saying, 'Well, three years from now we're going to throw out the criminal code and we'll figure out what to put in its place.' That is exactly what some people in Congress are proposing to do."

In a speech to the Mortgage Bankers Association, Clinton took aim at a proposal by the National Federation of Independent Business that seeks to scrap the tax code by 2001 and replace it with a simpler system such as a flat tax or national sales tax. "Scrapping the home mortgage deduction, scrapping other middle class tax cuts without presenting a clear alternative is simply reckless for the economy, reckless for businesses, [and] reckless for families' budgets," the president declared.

Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, told the National Association of Manufacturers today he does not foresee a replacement of the current tax code before 2000. "There is going to have to be a president pulling as well as a Congress pushing," he said. "We won't get there until after the 2000 election, when we elect a Republican president and a bigger majority."

Armey said it will take a GOP presidential candidate to embrace either his flat tax proposal or the national sales tax plan proposed by Rep. W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, R-La. Tauzin, however, said that, in the meantime, Congress could ease the tax burden by eliminating--among other taxes--the so-called marriage penalty, but cautioned such changes would further complicate the tax code. At the meeting, both Armey and Tauzin continued their nationwide "Scrap the Code" tax reform debate tour by propounding the benefits of their plans.