The Republican Agenda for 2006: Tax Cuts for a Favored Few - New York Times

The Republican Agenda for 2006: Tax Cuts for a Favored Few - New York Times:

A puzzling aspect of Congress's latest tax-cut package is why its overwhelmingly Republican supporters believe that its passage will be a big win for them and their party. There's nothing in it for most Americans, and yet all Americans will pay its cost: $69 billion over the near term. That price tag will be reflected in incessant budget deficits, which will further impair the government's ability to meet Americans' needs, and force the government to borrow more, mostly from abroad, to plug the budget gap.

The bill, which was passed yesterday by the House and is expected to clear the Senate as early as today, has two main provisions. The first, and dearest to the hearts of President Bush and his allies in Congress, is an extension of the temporary low tax rates on investment income. The top 10 percent of income earners will get almost all of the benefits, and everyone else will get crumbs.

To justify the giveaway, President Bush and Congressional Republicans insist that tax cuts for investors benefit everyone — and pay for themselves — by stimulating economic growth. That assertion is seriously delusional. Economic theory suggests that a fraction of the tax cuts' cost could, perhaps, be offset by higher growth, all other things being equal. But when a nation must borrow to pay for tax breaks, as is the case in the United States today, any ability of tax cuts for investors to spur growth is severely diminished.

[emphasis mine]

Snatch-and-grab, snatch-and-grab. BushCo has taken voodoo economics to a whole new level. I'd just love to see a Democratic President and Congress of the future roll back the tax-cuts for the obscenely rich and make that retroactive as well. I'll keep dreaming of justice even as it recedes further over the horizon of contemptible reality. *Sigh*.