SANTA FE, N.M., May 10: US President George W. Bush made an early victory claim on Saturday as Congress moved closer to finishing a scaled-back version of his tax cut plan and public support showed signs of increasing.
This week’s progress demonstrates that both houses of Congress and both political parties agree that tax relief will help this economy. Now the discussion is about how much tax relief the American people need and deserve, Bush said in his weekly radio address.
The message was recorded before Bush arrived for a weekend break at the New Mexico resort home of Roland Betts, a longtime friend and major political fund-raiser. Bush is to follow the break with a two-day, three-state swing on Monday and Tuesday to promote the tax cut.
The House of Representatives on Friday passed a $550 billion tax cut bill that pares down Bush’s proposal to eliminate taxes on income from corporate dividends. It would instead slash dividend taxes to a top rate of 15 percent and lower the tax rate on capital gains to the same level.
Bush said at least $550 billion in tax cuts was needed to boost an economy he said had been marked by rising unemployment and soft business investment.
A Senate committee on Thursday approved a smaller, $350 billion, tax cut package. Bush urged the full Senate to complete work on the measure next week, so the two bodies can work on a final version.
Bush originally proposed $726 billion in tax cuts. Lawmakers in both houses of Congress were unwilling to support tax cuts of that size, fearing swelling budget deficits.
Democrats, who mostly voted against the measure, continued to criticize the bill as a “budget-busting” windfall for the rich. A Democratic alternative would target tax breaks to families and give aid to cash-strapped states.
A Gallup Poll released on Friday showed 52 per cent of Americans now supported tax cuts as a “good idea,” up from 42 per cent in a poll two weeks earlier. The new poll found 41 per cent saying tax cuts were a bad idea, down from 47 per cent in the earlier poll.
The poll of 1,005 adults, taken from Monday to Wednesday, showed respondents by a 51 per cent to 44 per cent margin thought the government should assign a higher priority to reducing the budget deficit than to reducing federal income taxes.
Bush is to promote his tax plan next week in New Mexico, Nebraska and Indiana, giving him an opportunity to pressure moderate Democratic US Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Evan Bayh of Indiana.
I urge every citizen to participate in this debate and to make your voice heard. Explain to your local representative or your senators what tax relief would mean to your family and your business, and please tell the members of Congress why our economy needs that relief now, Bush said.—Reuters