House Corporate Tax Bill Becomes Magnet

This ought to be sickening.


May 19, 2:40 AM (ET)

By MARY DALRYMPLE

WASHINGTON (AP) - House lawmakers looking for an election-year boat in which to float their favorite legislation have started eyeing a corporate tax bill that's urgently needed to stop an escalating trade fight with Europe.

Congress wants to pass the corporate tax bill this year because it would end punitive sanctions being imposed on some U.S. exports to Europe. The sanctions escalate each month and punish the United States for not acting quickly enough to get rid of a tax break that international trade courts declared an illegal subsidy.

The pressing need makes the bill a prime magnet during an election year, when few other bills are expected to pass, lawmakers said.

"There aren't going to be many trains leaving the station," said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.


Republican leaders and tax writers must sort through the extras at the same time they work to shore up support for the bill's core tax changes.

"Obviously everybody is interested in this bill because everybody thinks it's a must-do bill and everybody wants their piece of it, and that's creating a problem in itself," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040519/D82LG2RO0.html