Secretary of Treasury

May we all rue that passing of June 7, 2001. On that day, President George W. Bush enacted an enormous $1.3 trillion dollar tax cut, providing significant tax relief to the richest 1% of Americans--those who make more than $288,000 annually. Junior erroneously maintained that this application of supply side economics, by filling the pockets of upper-class aristocrats, would allow money to trickle down to the middle and lower classes, strengthening the economy. Apparently Bush believed that his application of “Reaganomics 2.0” would prove fruitful, although the same supply side economics had failed under Ronald Reagan 20 years earlier. Even Bush’s own father, George H.W. Bush, Reagan’s 1980 Republican party primary opponent, referred to this trickle-down fiscal policy as “voodoo economics.” Four and a half years after the tax cuts were passed, we are able to see that Bush was very, very wrong. His 2001 tax cuts, as well as his subsequent cutbacks have left a federal deficit that has ballooned to epic proportions, social programs in decline, and many Americans jobless.
Even though Bush had promised that his tax cuts would stimulate growth and create as many as 800,000 new jobs, more than 2.7 million jobs have been lost since he took office. Worse has been his handling of the federal budget. From President Clinton, Bush inherited a $127 billion budget surplus. He swiftly turned that surplus into a $400 billion deficit by the end of his second year in office. When Bush took office, the government’s 10 year surplus was projected to top $5.6 trillion. Now, the 10-year forecast predicts a $1.1 trillion deficit. Bush’s tax cuts have also created a situation in which there is not enough capital to support many necessary federal programs. For instance, since the bulk of the tax cuts were enacted by the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency has experienced a 5.6% budget cut. Medicaid funding will cut by $45 billion, with 28 programs slated to be eliminated. Job training for veterans and dislocated workers has been cut by over a half or one billion dollars. All funding was cut for Amtrak, striking a crippling blow to ever-increasingly important public transportation. Even our National Park Service was pinched, losing 3% of its budget.
While the Administration was passing tax cut after tax cut for the wealthiest members of our society, it was also denying funding to many programs that desperately needed it; plans aimed at repairing and strengthening levees and dams along the Gulf Coast. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, this irresponsibility is absolutely unforgivable. After signing his tax cuts into law in 2001, Bush cut by half of one billion dollars allocations for the Army Corps of Engineers. Less than 2 weeks after the tax cuts were instituted, House Republicans stripped $389 million in disaster relief money from the federal budget. Busy with his wars, Bush apparently decided that disaster relief and dam maintenance were inconsequential, unimportant programs. In 2002, in the midst of instituting an additional $24 billion dollars tax cut to the richest 5% of Americans, the administration provided a mere $5 million for maintaining and upgrading hurricane protection levees in New Orleans. This was 1/5th of the amount requested by hurricane experts in Louisiana. When the Southeast Louisiana Flood Control later requested $100 million to strengthen levees, they were offered a measly $16.5 million. The carelessness on the part of the Bush Administration is an absolutely unforgiveable tragedy that the administration must be held responsible for.
The tax cuts also dramatically curbed funding for programs that encourage scientific advancement. While Bush boasts a record in which spending on scientific research has increased, his spending is skewed towards the military and domestic defense. 57% of the entire science budget is committed solely to the military. In light of the U.S.’s obvious dependence on Saudi oil, exploration for alternative fuel sources is of utmost important. However, with the Bush tax cuts, very little money is available to fund research. To compensate for the federal shortfall of more than $400 billion, the White House has instructed most civilian research agencies to expect major budget reductions in the 2006 budget, including cutbacks for the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health. Bush’s cut-at-all-costs strategy is not even supported by the public.
Polls have consistently shown that citizens favor a repeal of tax cuts in order to support necessary national programs. While many gripe about taxes when it comes time to pay them, everyone enjoys the benefits of taxes. Taxation allows the government to provide services and aid to all Americans. By repealing the Bush tax cuts, the government would be able to alleviate much of the federal deficit (although W’s damage will hardly be undone easily), provide funding to a plethora of social programs, prepare our country for the effects of disaster, and fund scientific research aimed at easing the lives of all Americans. It is our responsibility as Americans, in a nation fundamentally built upon the people’s right to speak out against injustice and executive futility, to stop voting with our tax brackets, and rise up in protest and demand that the Bush tax cuts be repealed.