President Bush Prepared To Accept $550 Billion Tax Cut Package

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

17 April 2003

President Bush has confirmed that he is now prepared to accept a lesser tax cut package of $550 billion in order to see the bulk of his proposals pass into law.

In an economic statement given in the Rose Garden on Tuesday, the President told reporters that in his opinion this was the minimum needed to ensure that the economy grows.

"American workers and American businesses need every bit of that relief now, so that people who want to find a job can find one, so that people that are looking for work are able to put food on the table for their families," he explained, continuing "These measures were presented to the Congress in the first week of this year. The progrowth package was urgent in January; it's even more urgent today."

Mr Bush's original $726 billion plan has faced determined opposition from Democrats and moderate Republicans alike, who feel that the timing of tax cuts on such a grand scale is questionable given the escalating budget deficit, recent recession, and a costly war in Iraq.

Some argue that the President's first round of tax cuts in 2001- totalling $1.3 trillion over 10 years- contributed to the size of the current fiscal deficit. President Bush refuted this argument at Tuesday's press conference, however, citing more fundamental economic and political reasons such as September 11 and the fight against terrorism for the deficit.

"The best way to reduce the deficit is with more growth in our economy, which means more revenues to our Treasury and less spending in Washington DC," President Bush argued, adding that. "We need at least $550 billion in that package, because the more tax relief that goes to the American people, the more jobs we will create in this economy."

According to reports, in the coming weeks, the Bush government will be dispatching various administration officials to the states of senators that have expressed the most concern over the tax cuts, in the hope of tipping the balance in a tightly divided Senate. George V. Voinovich of Ohio and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine are the two most prominent dissenters.

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