Bush Unveils Nearly $670 Billion buying vote budget
Bush to Unveil Nearly $670 Billion Economic Plan
Tue January 7, 2003 02:16 AM ET
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush will unveil a nearly $670 billion economic plan on Tuesday calling for the elimination of taxes shareholders pay on dividends, a bold move denounced by Democrats as a windfall for the rich designed to boost stocks and his reelection chances.
The package, which Bush will announce in Chicago, will include the acceleration of across-the-board rate cuts, immediate tax relief for married couples and families with children, and bigger incentives for small businesses to invest in new equipment.
In all, the White House says it will give 92 million taxpayers an average tax cut of $1,083 this year. Up to 35 million people who get income from dividends could benefit.
The package, which must be approved by the narrowly-divided Congress, will cost up about $670 billion over 10 years -- more than twice the amount initially considered by the White House -- with about $100 billion in tax cuts this year.
Bush is expected to set aside about $10 billion for "fiscal relief" to cash-strapped states, according to congressional sources.
Congressional Democrats -- and some economists -- said the plan would have little stimulative effect, would deepen the federal budget deficit and predominately benefit the elite. They estimated that 25 percent of the dividend tax break proposed by Bush would go to people making over $1 million a year. The vast majority of American stockholders will get less than $50, Democrats said.
TOP DOMESTIC PRIORITY
"The president really is investing...$600 billion on an old, old Republican theory of trickle down economics," said Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat. "We're saying no. Give it to the people who need it." |
