“The Rove-Bush goal is to return government to its size before the New Deal, leaving the individual more exposed to corporate power than at any other time since the 1920s.” Jack Beatty of The Atlantic Monthly examines Rove’s long-term strategy for the Dubya tax cut, and how it’s cleverly designed to help the GOP in 2004 and 2008. Grim stuff. In a related story, Michael Kinsley offers his take on the dividend debacle: “The recently enacted tax bill is such a shocking and brazen gift for the wealthy that it is hard to describe in anything short of…cartoon-Marxist terms.”
Category: Taxes
Credit Denied.
Despite growing GOP support in the Senate, Tom De Lay refuses to consider an increased low-income child tax credit in the House unless it includes more schwag for the filthy rich, such as an estate tax repeal. Speaking of which, new analyses of the Dubya debacle suggest that the middle class will end up footing the bill while the wealthy frolic. So much for “trickle-down.”
No Child Left Behind?
Surprise, surprise. Dubya and the GOP’s new tax cut leaves out an increased child tax credit for the nation’s poorest Americans. After all, gotta keep the priorities straight…Some families out there might want a second SUV.
Cash Advance.
As it turns out, Dubya’s profligate ways have forced Congress to increase the federal debt limit (so as to avoid a government default) in the very week they mull over his (now Voinovich-friendly) tax giveaway for the rich. Coincidence? I think not.
Capital Gains, National Losses.
The House and Senate GOP agree on a compromise bill that cuts the tax rates on dividends to 15%. (Don’t worry, Mr. Burns – the wealthy also get their fix in the form of a capital gains rate cut to 15%.) But, problems for the dividend debacle remain…particularly in that the $383 billion package goes over the $350 billion cap established by GOP moderate George Voinovich. Can the Dems mount a last stand?
Read Their Lips.
With the Dubya dividend debacle virtually a done deal, the Democratic field rethinks their election strategies in lieu of the Bush tax cuts. Given the inroads Dubya’s making into Dem territory (well, at least according to Fox News), hopefully Kerry, Edwards, Dean & co. will realize the only way to play it is straight – the tax cuts are a horrible idea and they need to be repealed.
Deficit, Schmeficit.
Cheney breaks the tie as the Senate GOP pass the third-largest tax cut in history, one that includes a three-year moratorium on dividend taxes. Dems Zell Miller and Ben Nelson (and eventually Evan Bayh) joined the Republicans in passing the cut. (Republicans McCain, Chafee, and Snowe were opposed.) Of course, this tax giveaway for the rich does nothing to address the largest budget deficit in history…but that’s a problem for Dubya’s successors, isn’t it? And children don’t vote anyway.
A Sucker Born Every Minute.
The President and his cabinet take the Dubya dividend debacle dog-and-pony show on the road. But be careful if they come to your town – as per usual when Dubya and the economy are mentioned in the same sentence, you may just find yourself working overtime. Update: Proving once again the power of the Big Lie, Dubya accuses tax cut critics of “class warfare.” And in a joint statement, Montgomery Burns, Scrooge McDuck, and the Monopoly Guy asked, “Can’t we all just get along?”
The GOP Tax Pact.
With conservatives chomping at the bit to reduce capital gains taxes, the Senate GOP craft a compromise bill that appeases moderate holdouts like Senator Snowe. As I’ve said before, any tax cut given the current state of the economy and our budget deficits is a bad idea. And given how much of the heavy lifting Senator Snowe has already done, I’m surprised more Dems aren’t kicking up a fuss right now.
Feed the Rich, or else.
What do we want? Tax breaks for the rich! When do we want ’em? Now! Brushing up on his cheerleader skills in Arkansas (as a not-so-veiled threat to Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln), Dubya demands that Congress speed up passage of his fatcat cut. But so far, the all stick and no carrot tactics of the Bushies are only continuing to tick off GOP moderates like Olympia Snowe.