Reagan Asks Congress to Pass Senate Tax Plan

President Reagan, again citing tax overhaul legislation as his top domestic priority, Saturday called on Congress to pass the Senate Finance Committee’s version of the bill “as fast as possible.”

“Death and taxes are inevitable, but unjust taxes are not,” said Reagan, who suggested in his weekly radio address that the Senate committee bill could “transform a tax system rotting from unfairness and complexity . . . into one that is clear, simple and fair for all.”

Meanwhile, Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) told reporters that Senate leaders may begin debate on the bill June 1--the first day Senate deliberations will be televised nationally.

Vulnerable to Amendments

While Senate rules would allow a wide range of amendments to be tacked onto the bill, “tell me which senator is going to get up and try to plug a corporate loophole” while a national television audience watches, said Warner, who spoke to reporters after addressing the Business Council, a group of corporate chief executives meeting in Hot Springs, Va.

An aide to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said that scheduling the opening of debate on the bill to coincide with the Senate’s national television debut is “something we’re seriously considering, but we’re not locked into it yet.”

The aide, however, quoted Dole as saying he saw an advantage to such a move: “It would guarantee us one of the biggest audiences in America, because every lobbyist would be watching.”

The committee tax bill, like one passed last year by the House, would affect virtually every industry and individual in the country, and would be the most sweeping revision of the tax code in its 73-year history. Thus, it has been the center of one of the most high-powered lobbying efforts in recent years.

Survived Despite Big Guns

Calling the bill “one of the most exciting economic changes of my lifetime,” Reagan said in his radio address that, “From day one, the Washington Establishment has been firing its big guns, trying to shoot tax reform down.”

The Finance Committee bill, engineered by Chairman Bob Packwood (R-Ore.), passed the committee on a bipartisan and unanimous vote. It would slash the maximum personal tax rate to 27%, from the present law’s 50%, and eliminate many tax shelters widely used by the wealthy. While some taxpayers would pay more, it would lower taxes paid by most Americans.

By most measures, it comes closer to the President’s original “tax reform” goal--reducing tax rates as much as possible by eradicating tax dodges--than either Reagan’s own detailed proposal or the tax revision bill passed by the House.

The proposal nonetheless has drawn sharp criticism, including a charge Saturday by Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) that “the Senate’s tax reform bill might well be called a tax deform bill.”

Cranston said in Los Angeles that the Senate committee’s bill would eliminate many investment incentives, such as the capital gains differential that gave financial nourishment to California’s high-tech industry. Both the House and Reagan’s tax plans would retain a lower tax rate on capital gains.

Ready to Compromise

Rep. Stan Lundine (D-N.Y.), giving the Democratic response to Reagan’s address, said congressional Democrats are willing to try for a compromise between the House bill and any legislation the Senate passes.

“In turn,” he added, “we expect (Reagan) to work with us to address our disastrous deteriorating trade situation.” The House is scheduled to consider comprehensive trade legislation this week.

Reagan had endorsed the House-passed tax bill in only a lukewarm fashion. He said it did not cut rates enough and might dampen investment, but he urged House members to support it in hopes of keeping the issue alive and send it to the Senate.

While Reagan said the Senate committee bill is “not perfect,” he added that it meets “the conditions that must be met for my support.”

Also contributing to this story were Oswald Johnston in Hot Springs, Va., and Keith Love in Los Angeles.