Congressman Jim Nussle, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, says Republicans do not intend to enact any new tax increases in the coming year, just preserve the ones that’re already on the books. Nussle says tax policy is included in the budget plan he helped craft. “We allow what we call the ‘expiring tax provisions’ to continue, so what we’re doing is preventing a tax increase from automatically occuring,” Nussle says. “We’re not looking for new tax cuts, so to speak, or new tax relief. We just don’t want the old ones to go away.” At issue are the tax cuts President Bush has signed into law, and Democrats argue that with huge federal budget deficits, those temporary tax cuts should not be made permanent. Nussle is preparing to run for governor, and he’ll be in Des Moines Monday to meet privately with Republican legislators.