Who Pays And Who Gains With Bush’s Tax Cuts?

April 16, 2008

The Facts

George Bush has seized upon every opportunity to push for making his tax cuts permanent. In every single speech he has given for the past several months he has not failed to bring up the tax cuts, which are set to expire in 2010. Even when he gave his pitiful sentiments about the mortgage crisis he had to bring up the tax cuts. Bush knows that this is something he has to convince the average American taxpayer as being a good thing for us. And he has done a pretty good job at that if you talk to most of the ardent supporters he has, even though the ones I talk to are in the working class group. But there is plenty of undeniable supporting data that proves the average working person will receive much less than Bush is telling us.

My View

All right, let me start out by saying that the Bush tax cuts were supposed to be something that would help the economy and grow the country. So what do you think now; has it worked?

George Bush has been a servant to the wealthy and the corporations since his inauguration, and now he wants to go out serving up to them one of the biggest gifts of his presidency. He is trying to tell us that we can expect an $1,800 increase in our tax burden when the tax cuts expire. He refers to this as “families everywhere” will realize that amount. However, Bush’s “families everywhere” is limited to the top 16% of wage earners. I don’t know about you, but I don’t fit in the top 16%. I fit into the 51% who will realize less than $600 in increased taxes. While $600 is a lot to me, it is a pitiful amount compared to what Bush’s’ wealthy friends will realize. I would be more than willing to give up that amount to help pay off our national debt if Bush’s friends were willing to do the same thing. But they are not willing to do that; that’s because the current tax cuts allows them an even bigger tax break on estate taxes. Do you and your wife have over $2 million in your estate? If not, then the increase in the estate tax will not affect you.

The top 1% of the wealthiest people will receive 53% of the tax cuts. Those are the ones whose average income is $1.6 million, and they will realize a savings of $92,000 per year if the tax cuts are made permanent. An hourly worker would have to make $769 an hour to be part of that 1%.

The Bush tax cuts has already cost us $2.6 trillion dollars, and will cost another $5 trillion dollars from 2010 to 2020. This at a time when we are already $9.5 trillion in debt and growing at a rate of $1.6 billion per day. With the ongoing war in Iraq and the big hit Social Security and Medicare is about to take with the retiring of the baby boomers, we can expect that $1.6 billion per day to increase exponentially. So why does Bush want to do something like this to our country? There can only be one answer; to take care of his friends at the expense of the country.

George Bush has borrowed more money from foreign governments than all the past Presidents combined. In the past four years alone he has borrowed over $1 trillion dollars from foreign governments (Ronald Reagan comes in second to Bush’s spending). We now owe foreign governments nearly $2.5 trillion, about the same as our annual tax revenues. Now understand this; when you have to borrow money to live on, that means you are spending more money than you earn. And if you can’t earn enough money now to live on, how do you expect to start earning enough money to live on and pay back a huge loan? Then on top of that, you tell your employer that you are willing to take a 20% cut in salary. This is what George Bush is asking us to accept, and he is telling us that we & the country will be much better off if we do accept that. Sounds awful weak to me.

Now some of you will say that Bush intends to pay for the tax cuts with spending cuts. Well, that is partially true, but his proposed cuts will not pay for all of it. But take a look at what cuts he intends to make. Most are in public services for the country, primarily those services that affect the working class citizens, the elderly, and the poor. Hardly any of those spending cuts are going to affect the wealthy.

Ok, I would like to see a reduction in the amount of taxes I pay just as much as anyone, no matter how small the reduction is. However, I recognize two things; first is that this reduction is going to place a bigger burden on me, my children, my grandchildren, and my great-grandchildren. And second is that our national debt has to be paid off before this country can become the great, successful nation it once was. We have got to get away from being a debtor nation to fix these two things. So which side do you come down on; George Bush’s or the country’s?