Senator Calls For Justice Department Probe Into Treasury Tax Analysis

by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York

09 April 2004

New Jersey Democrat Senator Frank Lautenburg, is calling on the Justice Department to launch an investigation into a Treasury analysis of John Kerry’s tax plans, arguing that the figures have been used by the government to discredit the Democratic presidential hopeful’s electoral campaign.

In a letter to the Attorney General John Ashcroft on Wednesday, Lautenberg stated: "I am writing to request that you open an investigation into potential criminal violations in connection with the Department of Treasury's assessment of presidential candidate John Kerry's tax plan."

The Treasury Department has already commenced a preliminary investigation into the tax analysis following a report in the Wall Street Journal that civil servants acted improperly by assisting the Treasury’s research on the figures, breaching the code of political impartiality in the process.

Although not mentioning Mr Kerry directly, the analysis was said to have formed part of Republican campaign literature which pointed to a tax plan similar to the Democrat candidate’s which will supposedly increase taxes by $477 billion over ten years on “hard working individuals and married couples.”

The Treasury meanwhile, rejects the charge that it acted inappropriately and said that it was normal procedure for tax proposals to be analysed so that Congress and government can assess the potential impact on future policy.

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