Republican Dissent May Thwart Bush's Tax Cut Plans

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

05 April 2004

Dissent from within the Republican Party is threatening to derail President George W. Bush’s hopes of securing permanent tax cuts in the 2005 budget.

The tax cuts agenda remains a fundamental part of the President’s electoral campaign, and Mr Bush was hoping to make permanent several tax breaks due to expire over the coming years.

However, several members of Bush’s own party are baulking at the $1.3 trillion ten year cost of enacting permanent personal and corporate tax cuts (according to Congressional Budget Office figures), and are arguing for spending reductions to offset this cost.

"If you're going to have any tax cuts at all, they should require offsets," contended Maine Republican, Sen. Olympia Snowe, who was one of the four dissenting Republicans in the Senate who voted for a $2.36 trillion budget plan that included a measure designed to make it more difficult for Bush to embed permanent tax cuts. Snowe added that she intends to stick to her guns on the tax cut issue.

Similar sentiments have also been expressed by House Republicans, eleven of whom voted with a Democrat measure last Tuesday similarly designed to make it harder for the President to pass permanent tax cuts. However, the motion was eventually defeated on a 209-209 vote after several Republicans switched their votes.

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