Americans strike out with Bush's tax pitch
The New Mexico visit of George W. Bush ended, as expected, with his presidential pitch for a big but irresponsible tax cut.
The pitch is a curve ball designed to fake us out, favoring primarily the wealthy at the expense of families, the poor and middle-income Americans. New Mexicans and all Americans would be foolish to swing at it.
Speaking plainly, there is nothing fiscally conservative, ethical or moral about spending money you do not have and do not intend to collect, charging off huge deficits year over year and passing along an accumulated debt to those who have not yet even been born.
But here was Bush delivering the latest in his nationwide tax-cut stump, trying to persuade us that it is a great idea to cut taxes, run up deficits and pass the bill on to future generations - a projected $5.5 trillion national debt by 2011 that would jump 60 percent from the 2001 debt of $3.4 trillion.
That after losing the golden opportunity created last decade by surplus revenue to pay down and potentially eliminate the national debt.
New Mexico Democrats, led by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Rep. Tom Udall and Gov. Bill Richardson have criticized the plan on a variety of grounds, including politics.
Presidential election politics aside, it is the wrong tax cut at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.
The Bush promise of helping small businesses is seen skeptically by many local New Mexico businesses, as Tribune reporter Dan Mayfield detailed Monday ("Not all businesses sold on plan"). Some said they have seen little benefit from the existing tax cut package.
Most economists agree that Bush's $726 billion tax cut will neither improve a difficult economy nor favor the lot of future Americans, who more likely will face unresolved major national problems such as rising health care costs and insurance coverage, unstable Medicare and Medicaid programs, and a wobbly Social Security system.
Bingaman, like many Democrats, would favor a more modest plan, though the House charged ahead on Friday by passing a $550 billion tax cut bill which Udall wisely voted against. Even Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee has set the Senate limit for any tax cut at a $350 billion.
Take your pick. But all these cuts suggest the plainly obvious: any tax cut at this time is inappropriate except for specific proven provisions that would directly stimulate the national economy.
Most Americans feel burdened by their federal income tax bill, especially alongside their state and local taxes. They are entitled to relief, but it should be real, meaningful and equitable.
That will take more than a couple of quick-hit tax cuts on the way to a presidential election; it will take a comprehensive overhaul of the Internal Revenue Service code that reduces or eliminates its complexity and its inequities that burden particularly families and middle-income Americans.
Bush's plan not only isn't good for the country, it isn't any deal for these most needy groups of taxpayers.
"Citizens for Tax Justice," a nonprofit group, estimates that under the Bush plan, the top 1 percent of taxpayers (earning more than $374,000 per year and averaging $1.1 million annual incomes) would save as much as $30,000 a year in taxes. But typical taxpayers (earning $29,000 to $46,000 a year) would save an average of $289.
The Senate should hold fast against the House and White House tax cut plans. Even better, Congress should reject immediate tax cut and start from scratch on revamping the entire income tax structure.
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