Bush solves budget problem. Remove tax breaks for those lazy poor and middle class people.

Having given one tax break after another to the richest people in the country, all the while spending the contents of the national purse like a drunken sailor on leave in Singapore, it appears that President Bush's special commission on tax reform has come up with a solution. It seems we can get a lot of that money back if we stop wasting it by giving tax credits to poor and middle class working families for interest on home mortgages and employer provided healthcare. This just in from the Gray Lady. (Warning to readers: This news is coming from the New York Times and, as such, may be suspect, but this particular story seems credible.)

Tax Panel Says Popular Breaks Should Be Cut

President Bush's tax advisory commission indicated on Tuesday that it would not propose replacing the income tax with a national sales tax or a value-added tax, but would recommend limits in the popular tax deductions for mortgage interest and employer-provided health insurance.

The commission, scheduled to make its recommendations to the president by Nov. 1 on how to change the tax system, did not take votes or dwell on details, but its consensus on many important issues was clear.

"We're getting focused on the income tax as a base," said the panel's chairman, Connie Mack, a former Republican senator from Florida.

We here at Middle Earth Journal have been wondering for quite a while how Dear MisLeader™ was planning on paying for the Iraq debacle and his plan to throw money at the Gulf Coast until his poll numbers improve, all while continuing to cut taxes for the rich and handing out huge giveaways to the "poor struggling oil companies." Now we have the answer. YOU are going to pay for it.

A big part of the American dream for most regular citizens is home ownership. For as long as I can remember, the government has sought to encourage that process through tax benefits, allowing more people to move from a rental lifestyle to an ownership lifestyle. This is not only good for them, but it's good for the entire economy, as construction affects so many other aspects of business. Having a group of Bush flunkies suggest that the first place to start saving money to pay for the disasters of this administration is to cut mortgage incentives is beyond the pale, even for this crew.

UPDATE: A couple more thoughts: We're just waiting for the GOP amendment to this proposal which says that homes assessed at over one half million dollars value will be exempt from changes and still get the tax credit. Also - if the proposals made by this board begin to gain any sort of traction in Congress, Democratic candidates and incumbents in the 2006 mid-terms should seize on this like red meat to lions and open every single stump speech with it.