17 Mar 2004 Letters in Response to the Question: Are Tax Cuts for the Rich Bush’s Top Priority?

A sample of letters received this morning in response to our latest What Conservatives Think on Bush’s tax cuts:

I fully concur with the President’s successful efforts to curb federal taxes; at my income level which is lower-mid-stream, my tax rate has been reduced to ten percent from fifteen and my taxable income has been substancially reduced as a result of readjustments to the standard deduction and dependent exemption.

Unfortunately all the positive effects that the tax reduction has produced are more than offset by what I consider reckless spending and further expansion of the power of the central government by our “conservative” Republicans. The people are directly taxed a bit less and indirectly regulated a great deal more; ultimately the increased regulations and break-budget spending will cause a covert, massive increase in taxes….

Richard A. Morgan

I have not done a careful analysis, but on the surface it appears evident that the Bush tax cuts made the income tax more progressive, not less progressive as the President’s critics portray.

You might want to take a look at this issue.

[Name Withheld on Request]

Conservatives always assume one thing. That tax cuts stimulate the economy. By that logic, they are assuming that by recieving a tax cut, people will spend more. Does that make sense? If you recieved five thousand dollars right now, would you go out and spend it all? Reagan proved one thing: Trickle down economics does not work. Jobs have been lost at an alarming rate, and the economy is in the gutter thanks to Bush’s tax cuts. The wealthiest Americans have saved millions in taxes thanks to Bush, but those millions arent just dumped back into the economy. People have a propensity to save as well as a propensity to spend. The wealthy tend to save more money bc they can afford it. It is the middle class and poor who spend nearly a much larger proportion of their income to stay afloat. This is economics 101, the buying power of the public is the greatest way to stimulate the economy, and by cutting taxes for the rich, that buying power is reduced and defecits are created.

Mark David Richardson

My thoughts: The first two writers make good points. In response to the third, if I were given an extra $5,000 right now, I would deposit it in my kids’ college fund, so for the next thirteen years it would be used by business as capital to create jobs.