Congressman Jim Nussle says he’d like to see dramatic steps to help the economy rebound. Republican Nussle chairs the house budget committee in Washington and says he’d like to add a tax-reform measure to President Bush’s sweeping economic-stimulus package. He thinks taxes are too complicated, and compliance costs for the difficult tax code are strangling businessmen and farmers in Iowa. In saying small changes just aren’t enough, Nussle seemed to say he’d do away entirely with the income tax. What do you replace it with? Nussle suggests a flat tax or national sales tax, something he says you could “recoup at the border,” would spare savings and investments, and not double-tax anything. Iowa’s second-district congressman says tax reform would be as good as a tax cut, and given the condition of the economy he thinks it’s a good time to make some drastic changes.
