POLITICAL PAGES

The Democratic "Bush critics" just love to call the President's economic stimulus plan "Tax Relief For The Rich". They look at only one part of the plan and hope you don't see the rest of it. They don't understand how the nation's economy works, or more important, don't want you to understand it. As you know, our economy was damaged severely by the 911 attacts on the World Trade Center, then the collaps of Enron, Worldcom, and Global Crossing. Now, the Democrats are opposing any attempts by our President to improve the economy because any economic recovery after the disasters we've faced in the past few years, would take away the only issue they have left to campaign on for the 2004 elections. They will try their best to block any economic recovery, then blame the problems on President Bush and try to convince us that they can do a better job with the economy. They will also tell us that Bush's 2000 tax bill isn't working but fail to mention that it is spread out over a 10 year period, so of course we haven't seen the effects of that one yet. The only thing they can do better is spend more and more of our money, making more people more dependent on government, and raise our taxes to pay for it. This is nothing less than economic suicide. We have to remember that the President doesn't control the economy, he can only submit his recommendations to congress and it's up to them to make into law those recommendations. It's the congress that has control over the economy.

Tax relief for the rich is what the economy needs to increase commerce and provide for more jobs in the market place, but the President's tax relief proposal is not just for the rich. It contains provisions to reduce taxes even for those in low income brackets. They may not reduce the basic income tax but they do increase the child dependency deductions for low income families and eliminate the marriage penalty, which in some cases, can amount to more in tax savings than they pay anyway. Reducing low income bracket taxes isn't going to help stimulate the economy by saving low income families a few dollars. That is not what the Tax Relief package is about. What it is about is creating jobs and increasing the cash flow in the nation.

It works like this. "The rich", what we call people with an income of over $100 thousand a year, pay 90% of the nation's taxes. They also own and invest in business. If you save someone in this tax bracket $10,000 a year in taxes, that's an additional $10,000 he will invest in his and other businesses. This is an additional $10,000 that goes into commercial trade, which creates a demand for more of a product, which creates the demand for more jobs to produce it. Are you beginning to see how this works now? Give a poor man a tax break and he may be able to buy a new color tv. Give his employer a tax break and he may be able to give the poor man a raise in salary and hire his brother as well. This is how the Tax Incentive Plan works, and it will work if Congress will approve a high enough tax reduction to do the job. The bill also accelerates the implementation of the 2000 tax bill.

Bush also wants to eliminate the Dividend Tax. This too will stimulate the economy by putting more money in people's pockets to spend on goods and services which in turn will also create more jobs. The current Dividend Tax is unfair and perhaps the most outrageous example of "Double Taxation" in the nation. When a corporation makes a profit, it is taxed at the 35% tax rate. The corporation will then divide the profit among it's stock holder where that same profit is taxed again, often making the total tax on that profit as high as 65%. Most profit dividends go to elder retired people (like my mother) who depend on these dividend payments to live on. Why should they have to pay half of it to the government when they're trying to live on a limited income? Haven't they payed enough taxes to the government during their working lives?

If we want a prosperous economy then we need to keep taxes as low as possible and not expect our government to pay for everything that we can pay for ourselves if we don't have to give Washington half of our money in taxes. We are not babies that need a government to babysit us and take care of us and provide for us with our own money. We need a government that will protect us from our national enemies and allow us to live our lives in a secure and prosperous economy. This is the goal of our current administration in spite of the opposition they are getting from the Democrats in Congress. Remember that when you go to the polls in 2004. Don't be fooled by those who would have you believe that the President's tax plan is a favor, or political payoff to Bush's freinds. This is a plan that will bennifit every single person in the country either direcly or indirectly with lower taxes, more jobs, and a stronger economy.