WASHINGTON, May 11 — The Senate voted 54 to 44 on Thursday to pass almost $70 billion in tax cuts, mostly for the nation's wealthiest taxpayers. The action ensures that virtually all of President Bush's tax cuts will be locked in place until after the next presidential election.
The measure, which the House passed Wednesday, would extend Mr. Bush's tax cuts on stock dividends and capital gains by two years, until 2010, and shield about 15 million taxpayers for one year from an increase in the alternative minimum tax.
The vote, largely along party lines, was a significant victory for Mr. Bush and beleaguered Republican leaders, who had viewed the tax cuts on stock market profits as a defining party issue and had credited them with jump-starting economic growth and reducing unemployment over the last three years.
I personally find great irony in this report - as well as so many other like it. They point to the tax cuts and the booming economy and creat the illusion that the reduced taxes are what is driving the strong economy. In reality, it is the huge national debt - the money we are borrowing (or printing, as it were) - that is buying this strong economy. We Americans are wallowing in debt - both personal and collective - to finance the spending spree we are on.
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