WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama should tackle deferral of corporate taxes within the context of broader tax reform and not separately, the chairman of a key US congressional panel said yesterday. "They need to distinguish between deferral and avoidance," said Richard Neal, a Democrat who chairs the subcommittee on taxes of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives in an interview.

Obama earlier this week outlined details for more than $210 billion of tax increases, mostly on corporations, including raising $60 billion by requiring companies earning income abroad to delay deductions until they bring the income back to the United States.Obama's deferral plan is more limited than one proposed by Democratic House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel in 2007, in that it makes an exception for research and development costs.

Neal also plans to reintroduce legislation to limit the ability of foreign reinsurance companies to cut US taxes by keeping income offshore "momentarily".

The lawmaker is backing US insurers like Liberty Mutual and John Hancock, owned by Manulife, which contend their European and Bermuda rivals get a competitive edge by using a loophole in the tax laws.

Rep. Neal has tabled legislation that would limit the ability of US subsidiaries of non-US insurance groups to cut their tax bills by ceding premiums to their offshore parents.