Reagan’s Aides Ask Panel to Ease Tax Plan Criticism

The White House and some supporters of President Reagan’s tax reform plan Wednesday pressured delegates to a national conference of state lawmakers here to water down a resolution mildly critical of the tax proposal.

The resolution, approved by a bipartisan committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures, supports the President’s overall goal of simplifying the federal tax code. But at the urging of lawmakers from California and New York, both relatively high tax states, the resolution also registers strong concerns over the plan’s proposal to eliminate deductions for state and local taxes.

The resolution faces a vote today by 5,200 state legislators gathered here for four days of meetings.

Support Urged for Plan

White House officials had met privately with some delegates before the committee vote and circulated a letter asking that the committee express strong support for the President’s plan.

But when it emerged from the committee, the resolution was more critical of the tax plan than a similar statement approved by the lawmakers in May.

Obviously dissatisfied, White House officials and some state lawmakers were lobbying hard Wednesday to modify the resolution before today’s floor vote. Democrats vowed to block the effort, charging that the White House is simply trying to whitewash growing disenchantment with the plan.

“They want a signal to go out that they managed to change the position of the state legislators,” said California state Sen. Rose Ann Vuich (D-Dinuba), a member of the committee that wrote the resolution. “They want to prevent any indication that we are not in support (of the tax plan).”

Aides Defend Tax Plan

The White House sent Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., deputy assistant to the President and director of intergovernmental affairs, to lobby here on behalf of the President’s plan. He and other White House aides have been circulating reams of material defending the tax plan and the elimination of local and state tax deductions as central to its success.

Ohio State Sen. Neal F. Zimmers Jr., who chaired the tax committee at the National Conference of State Legislatures, confirmed that pressure had been exerted to weaken the committee’s critical resolution on the tax plan.

But he said the White House is unlikely to win since the resolution represented a bipartisan compromise and it would take a three-fourths majority vote of the delegates to modify the statement.

Earlier in the week, U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, told delegates that there is relatively little enthusiasm for tax reform in the wake of Congress’ failure to reduce the federal budget deficit.