Tax Bill Unlikely to Contain Controversial Provisions

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There will be a tax bill this year, but it is unlikely to involve any major overhaul of the tax code or substantial new tax increases.

So goes the prevailing wisdom among tax policy makers and lobbyists as the Bush administration and Congress take their first tentative steps toward negotiation on the budget for the 1990 fiscal year.

But predictions about tax legislation, like government economic statistics, are seasonally adjusted in Washington D.C. The prevailing wisdom of March often yields to the budget reality of September.

And by then the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee could find themselves scrambling for …