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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion

October 13, 2004

Bush Misleads on Fiscal Responsibilities

In a speech Monday, President Bush advocated fiscal responsibility in government, saying, "we need to be wise about how we spend your money."¹ He is now poised, however, to sign into law a massive, $137-billion tax giveaway to corporate and special interests.²

The tax bill was originally created to fix a $50-billion export subsidy that had triggered retaliatory tariffs by our trading partners. Instead of simply repealing the subsidy, Congress replaced it with a $77-billion giveaway to corporations, many of which never qualified for the original subsidy.³ It also provides $43 billion in tax breaks for companies operating overseas,⁴ including a giant break to top corporations like Hewlett-Packard and Eli Lilly that allows them "to bring hundreds of billions of dollars in untaxed foreign profits back into the United States at about one-seventh of the normal tax rate."⁵

Lawmakers larded down the bill with pork for their favored special interests. The bill included million-dollar tax cuts for fishing tackle box manufacturers, Chinese ceiling fan importers, horse and dog track gamblers and Native Alaskan whaling captains.⁶

Sources:

"President and General Tommy Franks's Remarks at a Victory 2004 Rally in Morrison, Colorado," The White House, 10/11/04.
"Payback on K Street," Washington Post, 10/12/04.
"Senate Passes Big Tax Breaks," Los Angeles Times, 10/12/04.
"Congress Gives Away the Store," New York Times, 10/12/04.
"Senate passes $137 billion cut in business tax," Baltimore Sun, 10/12/04.
"Congress OKs corporate tax bill, hurricane disaster aid," Daily Herald, 10/12/04.

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