The bi-partisan panel appointed in February by PresidentObama and charged with reducing the mammoth U.S, deficit, has released a draftproposal calling for billions in spending cuts as well as overhauling the taxcode in an effort to cut U.S. debt down to 60 percent of GDP by 2024.
Among the panel's recommendations are the elimination ofthe alternative minimum tax and deep cuts in both military and domesticspending beginning in 2012. The plan is projected to erase roughly $4 trillionfrom projected deficits through 2020.
The proposal was released Wednesday by the chairmen ofthe 18-member commission, Erskine Bowles, the president of the University ofNorth Carolina, and former White House Chief of Staff under President BillClinton and former Senate Republican leader Alan Simpson from Wyoming.
The plan would reduce Social Security benefits to mostfuture retirees, and levy a higher level of payroll taxes to ensure SocialSecurity's solvency.
