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BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Edward B. Winslow

The president’s $600 billion tax cut, which follows on the heels of his $1.35 trillion tax cut for the very rich, is unveiled amid great fanfare of an economic stimulus.

In reality, this new proposal, which calls for an end to federal income taxes on stock dividends, is yet another giveaway to the very rich. This new proposal to shift the wealth from the middle class and the poor to the richest Americans will do little to stimulate economic growth. What's more, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that this fiasco is going to increase the flow of red ink in the U.S. budget deficit to more than $200 billion. That doesn't include the estimated $100 billion to $200 billion for Bush's war on Iraq.

The Bush proposal is class warfare on the weakest sectors of America's socioeconomic strata. "When they direct their tax programs to benefit the very, very, very few and eliminate the majority from any benefit of these tax cuts, it is class war," said Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

The poor don't own stocks, so they will see no benefit in the centerpiece of Bush's most recent effort to give more to the rich. Economists report that more than half of the benefits of eliminating the tax on stock dividends would flow to only 5 percent of taxpayers. What the rich don't pay in taxes, the middle class and the poor must pay. The alternative is a reduction in needed services and investments in our nation's infrastructure. But the callous attitude of the extreme right-wing in our country calls to mind the Charles Dickens character, who said the poor should simply die and reduce the surplus population.

While the administration touts the benefits to stock prices, and rich stock investors start pouring the champagne, many economists say the tax cut would not help business or consumer spending. Bush proposes a meager increase in the childcare tax credit from $600 to $1,000 that will do little for families who are struggling in the failed economic problems of an administration whose sole effort is to help the rich take more from the poor and middle class. Nearly a quarter of a century ago George Herbert Walker Bush described these failed policies as voodoo economics. He was right, yet the oligarchy continues to force these ill-advised programs down the throat of the American people.

While more liberal voices decry the Bush tax cut for the rich as unfair, even some conservatives have expressed dismay. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who voted against Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001 because it was "too tilted" toward the rich commented, "I think it's very important that we give low-income Americans a break."

If the administration were really interested in doing something to jump-start the nation's economy, it would offer incentives to small business owners. These people are the backbone of the American economy. People who own vast amounts of corporate stock look to dividends as an income stream, and do not have the need or the motivation to risk these resources. It's the entrepreneur who has fewer than 100 employees that generate new jobs and business expansion. How about doing something that gives these men and women incentives to create new jobs and new services?

Furthermore, investment tax credits could be given to homeowners and builders who invest in energy efficient construction. Buyers and manufacturers of energy efficient cars and trucks could be rewarded by tax-saving incentives.

These ideas don't require a vast knowledge of economic theory, only a real desire to get the economy moving again without further shifting the nation's wealth from those who have less to those who have more.

(This commentary contains the writer's opinions. Edward B. Winslow is a freelance writer, who can be reached at edwardwinslow@attbi.com.)

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY