President Bush Says Tax Cuts Not To Blame For Record Deficit

by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York

01 August 2003

President Bush fended off criticism of his economic policies this week, saying that tax cuts were not to blame for the deepening budget deficit, expected to hit $475 billion next year.

The President told reporters that the administration intends to halve the deficit over the next five years "assuming Congress holds the line on spending." However, he remained cautious on the chances of a rapid economic recovery after the worst jobless figures for nine years were revealed last month. "We're beginning to see hopeful signs of faster growth in the economy, which over time will yield new jobs. But the unemployment rate is still too high," said Mr Bush.

The President's economic record has offered easy pickings for Democrats in recent weeks as the parties prepare to go into campaign mode ahead of the presidential elections next year and the opposition has been able to exploit the apparent indifference of much of the American public towards the recent round of tax cuts.

"I had a policy decision to make, and I made the decision to address the recession by a tax cut," countered the President.

"We would have had deficits with or without tax cuts for this reason: the slowdown in the economy, the decline in the stock market starting March of 2000, plus the recession, reduced the amount of revenues coming into the federal Treasury," he explained.

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