Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich Leave Rest of Us With Big Bill

by James Parks, Jul 5, 2006

The Bush administration’s tax cuts for the wealthy and its record deficit spending have ballooned the national debt from $4.5 trillion in 2000 to $7.5 trillion today—and 99 percent of Americans are left holding the bag, according to a report by Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ).

For every $1 in Bush tax cuts you have received in the past six years, you were left holding a bill for $3.74, unless you’re part of the 1 percent who make more than $1.2 million a year.

In the past six years, the net share of the national debt for 99 percent of Americans has jumped by more than $7,000 per person, CTJ reports. The latest round of tax cuts signed into law in May are being paid for entirely with borrowed money and will balloon the national debt, including amounts owed to the Social Security Trust Fund, by $3 trillion this fiscal year alone, CTJ reports. That’s in addition to about $15,000 owed by every American, including the rich, in 2000.

Says CTJ Director Robert S. McIntyre:

A tax cut paid for with borrowed money is just a deferred tax increase or program cut, with interest. The vast majority of Americans are worse off now than before President Bush’s tax cuts were enacted. Only the very rich are net winners.

Everyone, except the richest 1 percent, will have to pay for this debt, either through spending cuts or future tax hikes. According to CTJ’s analysis:

• From 2001 to 2006, 99 percent of U.S. residents received an average tax break of $2,616, but their added debt burden rose by $9,782 per person, leaving an additional net debt of $7,166 per person.
• Because the benefits of the Bush tax cuts have gone primarily to the wealthiest 1 percent, this small group still comes out ahead even after the added debt burden is factored in. For the wealthiest 1 percent, who have an average 2006 income of $1,272,000, the tax breaks outweigh the added debt burden by a net average of $30,352 per family member.

According to another CTJ report, Bush is preparing to push program cuts on the public to pay for his tax breaks for the rich:

Despite the fact that tax breaks enacted since 2001 are responsible for almost half of the U.S. federal budget deficit, President Bush and Republican leaders in Congress claim that they need new budget rules that will encourage deep cuts in federal programs—but mandate no changes in tax policy—in order to get deficits under control. If Congress makes President Bush’s tax cuts permanent, the resulting budget shortfalls will inevitably require unpopular cuts in programs.

That’s why GOP leaders are proposing procedures to make it easier to push program cuts through Congress and onto an unwilling populace. Americans should wake up to the fact that the price of Bush’s tax breaks for the wealthy is far too steep.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (0)