[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: The White House Tax-Cut Machinations

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The White House Tax-Cut Machinations

July 26, 2004
 


 

As the tax-cut extension bill suddenly fell apart in
Congress last week, President Bush was caught with his hand
in the re-election cookie jar. Billed as timely help for
the middle class, the proposed extension of the more worthy
tax cuts enacted in recent years was intended by the White
House to be a timely boost for the president on the eve of
the Democratic convention. 

Senate Democrats and a few Republicans had been responsibly
holding out, insisting that any tax cuts, no matter how
meritorious, be paid for by raising other revenues or by
spending cuts. At issue were child credits, relief for
married people who file jointly and an extension of the
lower 10 percent marginal rate. When moderates began
ignoring the budget-offset issue and shifting behind a
compromise package of tax cuts, the White House showed its
political hand, scuttling the bill to stop Democrats from
strutting forth as tax-cut champions. 

Sometimes you watch a game and don't know for whom to root.
We didn't like seeing moderates cave on their principled
stand for fiscal discipline. But the president's gambit -
ostensibly holding out for the whole tax-cut enchilada
-betrayed a determination to treat the budget as a
political cudgel. 

The tax-cut issue will revive when Congress returns in
September, with the White House again demanding an
irresponsible five-year extension costing more than $100
billion, not the more limited two-year measure that failed
last week. Closer to Election Day, it will be even harder
for lawmakers to resist the president's simplistic pitch.
But we urge members of the Republican-led Congress to
discover some spine and stop kidding themselves, and their
voters. Congress must start budgeting responsibly since the
president obviously won't. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/26/opinion/26sun3.html?ex=1091860287&ei=1&en=973e6655a4c8ad83


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