Tax Revision Bill Is 40 Votes Shy of Passing House, O’Neill Says

House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) said Tuesday that a major tax overhaul bill is about 40 votes short of passage, but supporters predicted that most undecided lawmakers will vote for it when the roll is called Thursday.

“I think we’re going to be fine,” Rep. Barbara B. Kennelly (D-Conn.), one Democratic vote-counter, said Tuesday as backers of the bill tried to muster support.

O’Neill, issuing a strong endorsement of the bill, called it “one of the great landmarks of all time.” He added that “as you analyze this bill, a lot of people (members) get hurt at home” because it would produce losers as well as winners.

140 Democrats for Bill

He said his counters have found about 140 Democrats committed to the bill and added that about 40 Republicans appear ready to support it. At another point, he said backers were about 40 votes short of the 217 that would be required if all members vote.

“We’re going to do the work on our side,” he said. “We want the President to do the work” among Republicans.

President Reagan, meeting with business supporters of the measure at the White House, warned that “special interests have massed for a last-ditch effort to kill tax reform. . . . You know, tax reform has been declared dead so many times by the pundits that I’d be worrying if they weren’t predicting trouble ahead.”

However, Reagan added: “We can’t afford to become complacent. This is the decisive battle and this is where all we’ve fought for finally will be won or lost.”

He pledged that: “In the days ahead we’re going to give it a 100% effort, one final all-out push over that goal line.” Congress would be “thumbing its nose at America’s taxpayers” if it rejects the measure, he said.