Bush advisers urge veto of oil company tax break cuts

In letter to lawmakers, Snow says that change to ‘long-accepted’ accounting method would be unacceptable to administration.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Bush’s advisers would recommend he veto tax legislation if it curtails an oil industry tax break, Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a letter to a leading lawmakers Thursday.

Snow told the Senate Finance Committee chairman, Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, and the House Ways and Means Committee chairman, California Republican Rep. William Thomas, that the administration has “strong concerns” about a provision that would disallow use of the “last-in, first-out” method of accounting, known as LIFO, that is used by oil companies with sales of more than $1 billion.

“This provision would result in a retroactive tax increase by changing a long-accepted accounting practice,” Snow said in a letter.

Reuters