By Dave Williams, Atlanta Business Chronicle

 U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., pitched a deficit reduction plan to Atlanta business leaders Monday that would cut federal income taxes in exchange for eliminating most tax breaks.

Chambliss and Democratic colleague Mark Warner of Virginia, appearing before the Rotary Club of Atlanta, outlined bipartisan legislation based on the recommendations of a federal tax reform commission that issued its findings last December.

The plan they are developing with four other GOP and Democratic senators is aimed at lopping $4 trillion off of America’s $14 trillion debt by 2020.

The nation’s debt has grown so large so quickly that it has become America’s most pressing economic and national security priority, Chambliss told about 500 Rotarians and their guests.

He said America’s debt is exploding by $4 billion every day and now accounts for 62 percent of the nation’s gross national product, up from 36 percent just four years ago.

“If we don’t do something about this debt, the people who buy our bonds, i.e. the Chinese, are going to dictate to us how to do it,” he said.

Chambliss criticized a plan put forth last week by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee, as too narrowly focused. While Ryan is calling for cuts in discretionary spending and an overhaul of Medicare, his proposal would not address the revenue side of the deficit or defense spending.

Chambliss and Warner said everything must be on the table to attack the deficit.

Their plans calls for bringing in additional revenues by eliminating a wide range of special interest tax breaks. That additional tax revenue would allow broad reductions in personal and corporate income tax rates.

“Tax breaks are just spending by a different name,” Warner said.

The Chambliss-Warner plan also would raise the retirement age to receive Social Security benefits for Americans now 32 or younger.

Warner said he and Chambliss hope to introduce the legislation within the next 30 days.