Treasury circumventing Hill on tax breaks

In a series of little-noticed executive orders intended to ease the tax burden on corporate America, the Bush administration has implemented a number of new policies that will provide corporations with billions of dollars in tax relief without the consent of Congress.

The actions include new regulations, notices of new rulemaking, and tax collection policies on issues ranging from tax-free compensation for corporate executives to tax deductions for “intangible” assets to greatly expanded tax accounting flexibility for small- and medium-sized businesses.

Many of the business-oriented actions taken by the Treasury Department since the beginning of the year are so arcane that few members of Congress, including those with jurisdiction over tax policy, were familiar with the new regulations and revenue procedures.


When asked about the new policies implemented by the Treasury Department, Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he was not familiar with them.