Mr. Wiegand recommended accelerating the tax rate reductions scheduled for 2004 as an extra stimulus for the economy.
That $17.5 billion is about the amount of stimulus that the federal government would realize if it moved up the income tax reductions scheduled for 2004 to 2003.
Making last year's 10-year tax cut permanent would have little short-term impact, although Republicans on Capitol Hill are considering calling for phased-in personal income tax rate reductions scheduled for 2004 and 2006 to take effect immediately.
That experience suggests that raising the limits on the income taxed in the 10percent, 155 percentand27percentent brackets may also stimulate the economy, Mr. Josten said, especially since there are no tax rate reductions scheduled in 2003.
"Congress has already concluded that tax relief is necessary and has enacted it into law," said one official, alluding to income tax reductions scheduled to take effect in 2004 and 2006.
But the best guess is that he would eliminate or sharply reduce the income taxes individuals pay on stock dividends, move to 2003 the upper-bracket rate reductions scheduled for 2004 and give companies more generous breaks for investments in equipment.
Fortunately, in his State of the Union address last week, he asked Congress to correct this problem by speeding up the tax cut and making it permanent, even though opponents like Senator Edward Kennedy want to head in the opposite direction, proposing to postpone tax rate reductions scheduled to take effect in 2004 and 2006.
By replacing appropriations reductions scheduled for 2015 with what would presumably be permanent changes in entitlement programs and the tax code, the proposal would likely increase the long-term deficit reduction.
The city says using a fine reduction schedule, instead of judicial discretion, creates a fairer, more uniform adjudication process.
Officials also estimate that they are collecting more in fines with the reduction schedule because judges actually dismissed more tickets and gave greater reductions under the old system.
