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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TigerPaw who wrote (9225)	11/13/2002 5:55:40 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

New Congress Faces Old Issues The Daily Enron 11/5/02 thedailyenron.com <<...Post-election, once the dust settles, members of Congress will return to find their cubbies filled with the hot-button issues they avoided like the plague pre-election. Today is the perfect time to reflect on a couple of them. First, there's the Bush tax cuts. The bulk of the $1.35 trillion in tax cuts have not even gone into affect but already they are ballooning deficit forecasts for a decade ahead. Eventually Congress is going to have to muster up the courage to propose a new look at how those cuts are allocated. First let's get something straight. No one in their right mind is suggesting that higher taxes are better than lower taxes. No one. And no one is suggesting that the way to boost a faltering economy is to raise taxes. No one. Republicans would have you believe otherwise. And they have jealously planted mines for miles around their tax cuts to protect them. Any Democrat who dares get near those tax cuts risks his or her political life. "KaaaBooooooom!" A "tax and spend liberal" bites the dust. Of course that's nonsense. The issue is not raising taxes but rather shifting some of those tax cuts from corporations and the already wealthy, to working Americans. Here are the competing theories on targeted tax cuts: Republicans believe the best way to stimulate the economy is to put more money in the hands of corporations and the top 1% of earners. The theory is that if they have more money, they will invest it, and those investments will spur the growth of new businesses and products thereby growing the economy. Of course, past experience shows what really happens to those tax savings is that company insiders use the extra money to boost their personal compensations, add perks of regal proportions, have "off site" board meetings in the Caribbean, and use what's left to hire accountants to create offshore tax havens to hide what little they would have paid in taxes. Democrats believe that the best way to stimulate the economy is to cut payroll taxes and taxes on small businesses. When payroll taxes are lowered on working Americans, that extra money is immediately integrated into the family's monthly budget. It is spent on food, clothing, furnishings, autos, consumer electronics, etc. This, almost immediately, creates demand for these products, growth in wholesale orders, production increases and job growth. As those workers get their first checks they get to get the benefit of lower payroll taxes, spend the money, further stimulating the economy, and so on. It's that simple. Give the tax cuts to people who will actually spend it on consumer goods, or to the people who will squander it on a handful of luxury items and squirrel the rest away in their estate - an estate that, if Republicans have their way, won't be taxed either. A real no-brainer if there ever was one...>>