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Farmers, Vets, Elderly Get Bush's Tab |
Current rating: 0 |
by Dave Zweifel
(No verified email address) |
09 Feb 2005
|
We got a glimpse this week at who is going to pay for the fiscal irresponsibility of this administration.
It's our farmers, our veterans, our frail elderly who are going to pay for George Bush's tax cuts for the rich and for the ill-conceived, incredibly expensive war, which have combined to throw our nation into such debt that other nations are starting to worry about our economic health. |
We got a glimpse this week at who is going to pay for the fiscal irresponsibility of this administration.
It's our farmers, our veterans, our frail elderly who are going to pay for George Bush's tax cuts for the rich and for the ill-conceived, incredibly expensive war, which have combined to throw our nation into such debt that other nations are starting to worry about our economic health.
Surely, this president can't be serious about forcing America's veterans - more than 14,000 of them with serious injuries suffered in his war with Iraq - to pay a bigger share of their prescription drugs, plus charge them an up-front $250 fee to be treated in the veterans' health care system.
But, yes, there it is in the budget he sent to Congress Monday: a budget that cuts Medicaid help to the states, eliminates most of the farm subsidies enacted only a few years ago, and shifts yet more costs onto the financially strapped states.
And while all this is going on, let's take a look at what was quietly done by this administration only last month.
All those giant American corporations that in recent years have cleverly shifted their profit centers to overseas locations so they could avoid paying U.S. income taxes were offered a "tax holiday" if they would bring those profits back home.
In exchange for doing so, they would have to pay just 5.25 percent of those profits in taxes, compared to the normal corporate rate of 35 percent.
So many of these "patriotic" corporations took advantage.
Johnson and Johnson, for example, repatriated $11 billion. Big drug companies like Shering-Plough and Eli Lilly brought home $9.4 billion and $8 billion respectively. Pfizer is considering bringing home as much as $29 billion.
Intel, which has sold tens of thousands of its products inside computers purchased by American governments of all stripes, is looking at $6 billion in repatriate-eligible profits while Hewlett-Packard has $14.5 billion eligible for the tax holiday.
Rather than work to tighten the tax laws to close the loopholes these companies have been using to shift profits to low-tax locations, the administration is giving them a pass.
Wouldn't it be nice if the average American worker could shift his or her income to a place like Bermuda for a few years and, in exchange for bringing it back home, pay just a 5 percent tax?
Instead, one way or another, those American workers will make up for what those corporations didn't pay. It's the way this administration works.
©2005 Capital Times
http://www.madison.com/tct/ |
Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
Comments
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Tell Congress to Reject the Budget Cuts |
by Coalition on Human Needs
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
09 Feb 2005
|
Yesterday the President released his blueprint for federal government spending and revenues for fiscal year 2006. The President said this budget represents his priorities.
But those priorities are dead wrong.
Tell your Senators and Representative to reject the President's budget - and forward this message to everyone you know and work with to do the same. Tell them to reject the draconian cuts to health care, education, child care, food stamps and other services low-income people rely on: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/chn/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=374
Medicaid: The President's budget makes draconian cuts to Medicaid, cutting at least $45 billion in health care for low-income families and seniors over 10 years. According to Families USA, in 2010 the amount cut would be large enough to provide health care for 1.8 million children or 345,000 senior citizens. Families USA has also calculated how many children and how many seniors in your state could be covered by the amount of cuts: http://www.familiesusa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Budget_Battle_2006_splash
Food Stamps: The budget cuts food stamps by $1 billion over 10 years. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates those cuts to mean 200,000 to 300,000 fewer low-income working families with children will receive nutrition assistance.
Child Care: The budget cuts the number of children receiving child care assistance by 300,000 in 2010. The Administration has left child care funds frozen for the last three years, and does not include any more funds through 2010. A freeze is a cut, as the Administration's own budget shows.
Before the House and Senate take up their own budget resolutions, members of Congress need to hear from YOU that these cuts will hurt children, students, elderly, people with disabilities and working families in your state.
But the program cuts outlined in this budget are just the first step. The administration also proposes Congress adopt rules that will permanently tilt the playing field in favor of more tax cuts for corporations and the rich and less spending for low- and moderate-income families.
The administration would cap total spending for annual "discretionary programs" - which include spending on education, housing, WIC, veterans' health, medical research, defense and many other areas. Total spending on all of these programs would remain level for the next five years. Because spending in some areas (such as defense) would probably rise, other areas would take a deep cut so total spending could fit under the cap. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that if spending for defense, international affairs and homeland security were to increase as the budget proposes, then spending for domestic discretionary programs unrelated to homeland security would be cut by $65 billion, or 16 percent below 2005 levels.
Tell your Senators and Representative that harming children, older Americans, and working families is wrong, reckless, and unnecessary. Even while the budget locks in tax cuts overwhelmingly tilted to millionaires, it forces deep cuts that will hurt struggling working families, their children, and older Americans.
Some additional examples:
- Home heating and cooling assistance is cut by $200 million (from $2.2 billion to $2 billion), despite rising fuel prices.
- Housing for the disabled would be cut nearly in half and housing for Native Americans and for people with AIDS would also be cut. The HOPE VI program, which helps revitalize decrepit public housing, would be eliminated.
- Head Start is flat-funded except for $45 million for a pilot project to create Head Start block grants in 9 states. For the first time in years, there isn't even an inflation increase for Head Start staff. Flat funding means fewer children will be served and/or the quality of their education will be threatened.
- Many education and training programs are cut, including $300 million from worker training programs, $2.2 billion in cuts to vocational and technical education, and elimination of the Even Start literacy program and Early Learning Opportunities program.
- The Community Food and Nutrition Program, which funds community-based services that help needy families get nutrition benefits is eliminated. The budget would slash spending on community development programs by 33 percent and combine the Community Development Block Grant with at least a dozen other programs and move them to the Commerce Department.
Members of Congress are starting to see the pain this budget will inflict on their constituents. We can stop this budget in its tracks. Take action now by sending an email to your Senators and Representatives.
And forward this email to your organization's network, and to your friends and family. We can stop the cuts if we all speak out - but not if we wait for someone else to do it.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/chn/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=374
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Please forward this e-mail! If you would like to subscribe to CHN's email list, please contact Jen Beeson at jbeeson (at) chn.org |
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Sad, Very Sad |
by Dose of Reality
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
09 Feb 2005
|
It's very sad that the war in Iraq is a number one priority for Bush, but strangely enough funding for it is left entirely out of this budget. Nonetheless, funding for veterans is considered to be "discretionary spending"...
If you want to dance to the tune, ya got to pay the piper. It is disgraceful how Bush ignores the growing needs of veterans from America's wars, past and present.
But it should be no surprise that an administration that has nothing but insults for labor, whether they are fighting the wars he starts or working at Wal-Mart, could not give a damn about the people involved, even as he sleeps safely wrapped in the flag that he degrades every minute his illegal and illegitimate presence graces the White House. |
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