June 13, 2011
by Tom Eblem
June 7 marked the 10th anniversary of the huge federal income tax cuts that President Barack Obama and Congress must soon decide whether to cancel or extend.
What a difference a decade makes: President George W. Bush proposed the tax cuts after he inherited a budget surplus. Three months after the cuts became law, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 led to the war in Afghanistan, followed in 2003 by the invasion of Iraq. Then the housing bubble burst, and the United States plunged into the worst economic slump since the Great Depression. With record deficits and serious national needs, can we still afford those tax cuts?
To mark the anniversary, Citizens for Tax Justice and Kentucky Youth Advocates released an analysis showing that if the tax cuts are made permanent, the richest 5 percent of Kentuckians will benefit 10 times more than the bottom 60 percent.
"In many ways, these tax cuts are little more than a stimulus package for the wealthiest of Kentuckians," Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, said in a news release. "In these tough economic times, we need an approach where Kentucky's hard-working families are given the same breaks as multimillionaires."
To read the analysis, go to Ctj.org/bushtaxcuts10yrs.php.