Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and the committee's ranking Democrat, Montana's Max Baucus, urged President Bush to help close a tax loophole involving the charity tax code. The loophole allegedly allowed President Bush's secretary of health and human services to claim over $1 million in tax deductions for "gifts" that were used to further his family's interests. The Senators wrote to Bush to ask his support in a provision in the embattled pension bill that would eliminate the abuse of the charity tax code. The Senators say that the issue could be taken care of through changes in the Bush administration's control. "Your IRS commissioner, Mark Everson, has done a fine job of highlighting these problems, but now the rest of your administration needs to pitch in and rewrite these regulations and end the abuse," the letter stated. "We ask that you direct Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget to make a priority of rewriting these regulations in the next six months." It was recently revealed that Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and his family have claimed millions in tax deductions to a family foundation. The Dixie and Anne Leavitt Foundation has used its $9 million fortune to futher the family's real estate holdings, insurance interests and the Leavitt family genealogical society. Commissioner Everson has labeled this type of transaction as one of the top "dirty dozen" tax dodges. The provision under the major pension bill would work to curb these dodges. Leavitt released a statement yesterday, noting that the foundation gives substantially. "My family and I are grateful that we have the resources to give back to our community, and the Dixie and Anne Leavitt Foundation has already contributed nearly $1.5 million to charity and will continue to make generous contributions in the years to come," he said. |
