On September 26, the Bundesrat rejected the bills for a tax amnesty and for the 2004 budget measures and severely criticised the trade tax reform and the 2004 federal budget.
Three tax bills and the federal budget were four of the items on the Bundesrat's crowded agenda for its regular sitting of September 26. None of the four were accepted. Two, the Tax Honesty Encouragement Bill with its black cash tax amnesty and the 2004 Budget Measures Bill with its acceleration of the 2005 income tax rate cuts were rejected outright, leaving the government with the alternatives of calling on the Reconciliation Committee to seek a compromise, or of dropping the bills altogether. The Bundesrat severely criticised the 2004 budget and asked that it be reworked, and also put on record its unwillingness to accept the Trade Tax Reform Bill in its present form.
