Paul O'Neill Says Tax Hike To Fund War On Terror Unlikely

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, New York

20 June 2002

Speaking in New York earlier this week, US Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill has reassured American taxpayers that a new tax to fund the country's ongoing anti-terrorism campaign should not be necessary.

Mr O'Neill said on Tuesday that increased spending on the 'war on terror' is likely to be funded by increased productivity and more streamlined public spending. 'We need to test ourselves to check we get value for every dollar,' he explained.

He also condemned the US tax code as an 'abomination' this week, suggesting again that it is the complexity of the US taxation system which is behind the recent wave of corporate relocations to offshore destinations.

Announcing that a campaign for tax reform will begin in earnest afer the November congressional elections, the Treasury Secretary reiterated the need for tax changes both on a corporate and on an individual level.

'It has gotten so far out of bounds it's unbelievable,' he said of the complex IRS code, citing the fact that the earned income tax credit rules - designed specifically to give a tax break to the country's working poor - result in the greatest number of tax return filing errors each year.

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