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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: bush shooting for another tax cut | ||||
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| IkeaBoy P.L.F. Portugese Liberation Front- Liberating Status' everywhere from the Tyranny of Portugal I will die a traitor's death | posted on 10-05-2001 @ 5:55 PM |    | |||
| O&A Board Veteran Registered: Sep. 00  | Just being an informant Bush Wants Tax Cuts to Boost Economy By CURT ANDERSON, AP Tax Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush urged Congress on Friday to approve at least $60 billion in fresh tax cuts to boost the staggering economy without resorting to the broad new government spending sought by many Democrats. The announcement followed a Thursday night meeting on the White House's Truman Balcony during which House Republican leaders described for Bush a growing concern among conservatives that he appeared too open to Democratic spending proposals ranging from health insurance assistance to railroad construction. At the meeting, which a senior White House official characterized as ``brutally frank,'' GOP leaders said they believed Bush's statements were being misinterpreted by many in Congress and advised him to communicate his thinking on the stimulus plan more clearly, said one participant who spoke on condition of anonymity. Bush, flanked by his top economic advisers in the White House Rose Garden, said Friday the government is already responding with about $60 billion in spending to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, including his proposal to extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks. The president called for additional tax cuts totaling about the same $60 billion. ``In order to stimulate the economy, Congress doesn't need to spend any more money. What they need to do is cut taxes,'' Bush said. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee was given a green light to begin assembling a package of up to $75 billion without waiting for a negotiated agreement with Democrats and the Senate. The panel's chairman, GOP Rep. Bill Thomas of California, said work could begin as early as next week. Democrats responded with dismay, saying that would virtually ensure a partisan outcome. ``These people have a hidden agenda,'' said Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. ``They think they can dust off anything they want and wrap the American flag around it.'' The president made his clearest statement yet on the components of his plan, which would include accelerating some or all of the income tax rate cuts now set to take effect in 2004 and 2006 as part of the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax relief measure enacted earlier this year. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has proposed moving the 1 percentage point reduction in the 27 percent income tax rate from 2004 to 2002, a Treasury official said. Because the bottom 10 percent and 15 percent tax brackets would not be reduced, Bush said Congress should ``make sure that low- and moderate-income workers get tax relief as well.'' The leading option is a new round of tax rebate checks, which could arrive in time for the critical holiday shopping season. For businesses, Bush proposed repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax, which can impose big tax bills on struggling businesses, and greater expensing writeoffs for business capital investment. House GOP leaders are considering a 30 percent immediate expensing writeoff for all assets, perhaps with a three-year time limit. The president's list pointedly left out cuts in capital gains taxes on investment, which many Republicans are pressing for but Democrats fiercely oppose as benefiting the wealthy. House Republicans, however, still want to consider a measure that would reduce the long-term capital gains rate from 20 percent to 18 percent for investments made after the Sept. 11 attacks. ``Some of us just won't give that up,'' Armey said. ``There's going to be a big fight over the capital gains tax reduction.'' Democrats have gone far beyond tax cuts in their vision of a stimulus package, envisioning that half of up to $75 billion would go for spending. Some Democrats want to give workers a 50 percent federal match for the COBRA health insurance plans available for the jobless. Others want to raise the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage, begin a broad new public works program and spend money on Amtrak, high-speed rail and highways. A bipartisan group of senators and House members has been meeting regularly to talk over these items as well as the long-range budget implications of an economic stimulus plan. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said continuing those talks was critical in reaching an agreement that could pass both the Democratic-led Senate and GOP-run House. ``I think it's too early to be putting numbers on spending versus tax reduction,'' Baucus said after Bush's remarks. In effect, the statement by Bush and the House plans for immediate action stripped the bipartisan veneer that had characterized discussions of the stimulus package. It means the legislation will follow the path it would have before Sept. 11 - a Republican package in the House, Democratic additions and deletions in the Senate and final closed-door negotiations between the two sides and Bush, congressional aides said.  "I didn't realize how tragic it [the WTC attack] was until the celebrities told me"- Ron Bennington | ||||
The sky is blue | posted on 10-05-2001 @ 6:00 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Veteran Registered: Oct. 00 | Might actually help. This won't be a 'get out and work in the factories' type of war.  Wanna be the coolest kid on your block? Get an 'I love Froy t-shirt!' Add it to your sig today! Email me at fezoanda@hotmail.com | ||||
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