Whose 'Stimulant'?
From William Lucy, Secretary-Treasurer
If you've had any questions over the last two years about where the Bush administration stands when it comes to helping working families, look at his new economic-stimulus package. You'll find your answer. He supports the corporations and the very rich.
President McEntee's column rightly excoriates the administration for trying to focus tax cuts on the rich. The tax-cut proposal is so bad that there's more to be said.
The center of the President's $674-billion plan — targeted to the country's highest paid people, just like his $1.3-billion tax cut — is a proposal to end tax dividends. That proposal will cost the government about $300 billion, with a little over 50 percent of the money going to people with incomes over $350,000 per year.
Thanks to this administration, the top 1 percent of America's wealthiest have another opportunity to rake in more cash, while 80 percent of households with incomes below $73,000 per year will get less than 10 percent of the money. Worse, workers earning between $16,000 and $29,000 would reap just $99 each.
Viewed against the backdrop of the challenges already facing America's working families, the President's plan is an outright windfall for the already wealthy. Republicans and Democrats alike have a moral responsibility to prevent this from happening.
WORKING-FAMILY SUFFERING. Last December, our economy lost 100,000 jobs. Between 2001 and '02, workers' health-insurance premiums rose by 12.7 percent — the sharpest increase since 1990. The national unemployment rate jumped to 6 percent. And states are facing collective, three-year budget deficits that could approach $200 billion.
In the 26 months that the Bush administration has occupied the White House, America's working families have struggled harder than ever. Now that the President is also proposing additional cuts to vital programs from education and literacy to environmental protection and public housing revitalization, everyday Americans are sure to suffer even more.
Yet the President's plan offers no relief to states, cities, counties and localities that serve everyday Americans. In fact, if the dividend tax cut goes through, state tax revenues will be reduced by as much as $4.4 billion per year — delivering a body blow to budgets that were already on life support.
Obviously, the money saved by a few rich people as a result of the President's tax cut could be put to better use. Some of it could go to Maryland, which has already denied raises to 83,000 state workers. Or to California, a state that is considering cuts worth $1.5 billion to K-12 education. Or to Florida, where one out of four state jobs have been eliminated.
MISERY IN MISSOURI. Instead of giving more money to the already rich by passing another tax cut, why not help state employees in Missouri? They've weathered three straight years without wage increases, while their health insurance costs have more than doubled. More than 5,000 Missouri teachers have been laid off. More than 50,000 of the state's citizens have gone without care as $107 million has been taken from Medicaid. And Missouri's correctional system has been cut by nearly $50 million, with 5,000-plus inmates released and five prisons closed as a result.
A war against Iraq — whether alone or with coalition allies — would strain the federal budget even more, decreasing the likelihood that states will get help from Washington. Experts estimate the cost of deploying troops, conducting a war, returning troops home and occupying Iraq at near $100 billion. For working families — the Americans who will send their sons and daughters off to war — the cost will be incalculable.
But the fact of the matter is that whether the topic is who benefits from the stimulus package or the cost of waging a war, this administration's actions show that it remains squarely on the side of Big Business and the wealthy. And that is why we must remain on the front lines in the battle for America's working families.
