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Federal Budget108-1-5
The federal budget that President Bush has submitted to Congress for the fiscal year beginning October 1 would sacrifice programs that benefit workers on the altar of lavish tax breaks for the wealthy. The budget that a President submits to Capitol Hill dramatically highlights the priorities of the Nation=s Chief Executive. It reflects the "game plan" which an Administration has for the future of the country and the well-being of its citizens. Judging by the priorities in the budget that the White House has proposed for the next fiscal year, the "game plan" of the Bush Administration is to make the economy run backward like a reversed filmstrip. Since Mr. Bush took the oath of office on January 20, 2001, 1,700,000 jobs have been lost, unemployment has reached an eight-year high, more than 2,000,000 jobless workers have run out of their unemployment benefits, wage earners have lost billions of dollars in retirement savings, and the states have experienced their worst financial crisis since World War II. Tax Cuts for the RichDespite the problems that confound the economy, the centerpiece of the budget is a package of tax cuts costing $1.49 trillion over 11 years that would further enrich the wealthy. The signature element of the package of tax cuts is a proposal to eliminate permanently the tax paid on stock dividends by individual investors. Over an 11-year period, this proposal would cost $388 billion. Additionally, the President is asking Congress to extend through 2013 the tax provisions due to expire under the 2001 tax cut. Such an extension would cost $600.9 billion. The White House is also seeking to increase tax deductions for equipment purchased by small business. This would cost $15.6 billion. President Bush has portrayed his tax cut as an economic elixir that would boost growth, create jobs and help balance the federal budget. But the fiscal tonic that the President is prescribing would not cure the ills besetting the American economy. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the tax cuts proposed by President Bush would give millionaires an average windfall of over $90,000. By comparison, middle-class Americans would receive an average of only $256. During the last Congress, when President Bush was urging enactment of education legislation, he pledged that the policy of his Administration would be "no child left behind." But under the budget he has sent to Capitol Hill resources needed for education are denied. Instead of helping children, the Bush budget would produce a policy of "no millionaire left behind." The Bush Budget AxeThe budget President Bush has proposed would apply an axe to programs that help average Americans. Of special concern, the White House is seeking to terminate 46 education programs. Among the programs targeted for destruction on the chopping block are those that are aimed at preventing children from dropping out of school. Others destined for extinction would enhance education in rural areas, increase art in education and improve the training of teachers. Although President Bush has called education "the great civil rights issue of our time," the budget he has proposed would eliminate all $235 million in funding for the Comprehensive School Reform Program, which has helped high-poverty and low-achieving schools in all 50 states formulate strategies to raise student achievement. The President has spoken out against the impact that addiction to drugs has on young people. Yet the budget would slice $50 million from the program that provides grants for safe and drug-free schools. Similarly, the Bush budget proposes to eliminate $32 million that finances the hiring of guidance counselors to assist students with emotional or behavioral problems. In 2002, President Bush proclaimed "a good teacher can literally make a lifelong difference for a child." In 2003, his budget proclaims a different message. The budget eliminates funding for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The President has emphasized the importance of parental involvement in how children are educated. Yet the Bush budget denies funding for parental information assistance centers. These centers were supposed to be a critical vehicle for providing parents with the information they needed to become more involved in the schooling of their children. From a different standpoint, the budget axe would fall heavily on two programs administered by the Department of Labor. The budget would zero out funding for the Youth Opportunity Grants Program, which helps low-income youngsters find work. The budget would also terminate the Migrant and Seasonal Farm workers Program, which assists low-income agriculture workers in securing alternative jobs. Especially alarming, state governments would suffer severely under the Bush budget. States are already facing budget deficits in the range of $60 billion to $85 billion for fiscal year 2004, which begins in most states on July 1, 2003. The current deficits in the states are worse than they have been at any time during the last 60 years. The package of tax cuts that the White House has proposed would deepen these deficits. The proposal to eliminate the taxation of dividends would, alone, cause states to lose more than $4 billion a year. This is because 37 states and the District of Columbia link their tax systems to the federal taxation of dividends. Given the magnitude of their deficits, states are likely to slash basic services such as health care and education, impose new tax burdens on working families and sideline dedicated public workers. While the Bush Administration has focused on homeland security, it has neglected the potential for homeland disaster that could result from the growing fiscal crisis in the states. From a different standpoint, the budget that President Bush has proposed projects a deficit of $307 billion for the next fiscal year. That would break the record of $290 billion for federal deficits set in 1992 under then President George Herbert Walker Bush, the father of the current President. A Budget for Working FamiliesThe fiscal priorities of the White House represent a policy of Robin Hood in reverse, taking from workers to give to the rich. By contrast, CWA strongly believes that Congress should enact a program that favors middle-income Americans. The Nation would benefit from tax credits targeted to workers, along with a refundable $1,000 child tax credit and an elimination of the marriage penalty. An essential component of a progressive budget would be to provide aid to the states so that they can offer basic services and avoid further economic deterioration. The budget should also expand public investment in schools and transportation. It should strengthen our industrial base, an action that would create jobs and stimulate growth. Enacting such an agenda would help rebuild the road to opportunity for workers. It would prevent the seismic shift in fiscal priorities that the budget proposed by President Bush would bring about. During the 1930s, when America was experiencing the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said:
By that standard, the budget that President Bush has proposed is a dismal failure. Providing tax breaks to the wealthy while applying an axe to programs that assist workers will not revitalize America. The distorted priorities contained in the President's budget would magnify the economic misery that the White House has inflicted upon the Nation. For further information, contact:
Bush Tax Plans Don't Make Sense for Working Families!"White House Reveals Nation's Biggest Problems: The Very Rich Don't Have Enough Money & Worker's Don't Pay Enough In Taxes." After you read the fact sheet below, read the Press Release by the Citizens for Tax Justice, and look over the tables showing current taxes and a flat income alternative. You can also Click Here to read the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities' Assessment of the "growth package" unvelied this month. Find out why the Bush Tax Plan doesn't make sense for working families! (Both of these document are in PDF format and require Adobe Acrobat Reader to open. See link on our homepage to download Acrobat Reader if you don't already have it!)
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