House easily passes tax cut bill
The debate divided starkly along partisan lines, with Republicans crediting the tax cuts, first enacted in 2003, with a surging economy, millions of new jobs and booming tax revenues. Democrats countered that the deficit-financed tax cuts are tilted in favor of wealthy investors and that the economic benefits are not as great as advertised.
Critics, including most Democrats, attacked the tax rate reductions on dividends and capital gains as being skewed in favor of the rich. They noted that it was the second half of a GOP budget package that began with $39 billion in benefit cuts over five years, many of which came from programs for the poor such as Medicaid.
Democrats also cited a joint study by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution that shows taxpayers with incomes greater than $1 million per year winning tax cuts of $42,000 under the bill while families with incomes of $50,000 a year would average a $46 tax cut.
âThe Republican Party ... is sending all the millionaires on an all-expenses-paid vacation â for $41,000 a year,â said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash. âThe rest of America is being forced to choose between filling the gas tank or stocking the refrigerator.â
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What a great idea, cut taxes for the rich at the expense of Medicaid. $46 dollars goes a long way.....if your living in 1920!
At least one economist recently wrote about Dick Cheney's cocktail napkin. Yes the patented Cheney logic of "deficits don't matter" and other related wonderful economic thought still prevails in Republican lore.
The debate divided starkly along partisan lines, with Republicans crediting the tax cuts, first enacted in 2003, with a surging economy, millions of new jobs and booming tax revenues. Democrats countered that the deficit-financed tax cuts are tilted in favor of wealthy investors and that the economic benefits are not as great as advertised.
Critics, including most Democrats, attacked the tax rate reductions on dividends and capital gains as being skewed in favor of the rich. They noted that it was the second half of a GOP budget package that began with $39 billion in benefit cuts over five years, many of which came from programs for the poor such as Medicaid.
Democrats also cited a joint study by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution that shows taxpayers with incomes greater than $1 million per year winning tax cuts of $42,000 under the bill while families with incomes of $50,000 a year would average a $46 tax cut.
âThe Republican Party ... is sending all the millionaires on an all-expenses-paid vacation â for $41,000 a year,â said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash. âThe rest of America is being forced to choose between filling the gas tank or stocking the refrigerator.â
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What a great idea, cut taxes for the rich at the expense of Medicaid. $46 dollars goes a long way.....if your living in 1920!
At least one economist recently wrote about Dick Cheney's cocktail napkin. Yes the patented Cheney logic of "deficits don't matter" and other related wonderful economic thought still prevails in Republican lore.