White House Nominates Tax Panel Member As Bush's Chief Economic Aide

by Mike Godfrrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

01 February 2006

The White House has announced the nomination of former tax panel member and academic economist Edward Lazear, to succeed Ben Bernanke as the chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

Known primarily as an expert in labour markets, and a professor of economics and human resources management at Stanford business school, Mr Lazear holds a PhD from Harvard. He is also a fellow of the Hoover Institute, Stanford's conservative-leaning research group, and is the founding editor of the Journal of Labor Economics.

Mr Lazear will fill the vacancy left by Ben Bernanke, who has taken up the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve following the conclusion of Alan Greenspan's long tenure in the post.

Some commentators have suggested that Lazear's nomination is a signal that the Bush administration is supportive of the proposals published by the panel for tax reform in November. The panel's report, which studied various more radical options such as a national sales tax and flat taxes, eventually offered two recommendations, both of which propose streamlining personal, business and investment taxation and call for the the alternative minimum tax and the deductibility of state and local taxes to be eliminated.

The report is currently being considered by the Treasury Secretary John Snow, who is charged with making a final recommendation to Mr Bush on the best route to tax reform. However, the administration seems in no hurry to embark on its tax reform plans, and the Treasury Secretary has stated that he will not be held to an "artificial timetable".

In a press briefing held on Monday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan stated that: "We look forward to Ed joining the economic team."

Mr McClellan went on to observe that: "He has helped to produce - the economic team has helped to produce real results for the American people; that we have worked to help create 4.6 million jobs; the unemployment rate is down to 4.9 percent; and we look forward to him joining the team and helping the President build upon our strong record of accomplishment when it comes to the economy."

Mr Lazear's nomination must be approved by the Senate.

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