Press Release

Contact: Camden Richards or Margot Friedman at 202-588-5180

BUSH TAX CUT WOULD HARM WOMEN AND FAMILIES

Statement of Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Economic Security

National Women's Law Center

President Bush has just proposed a new round of tax cuts of nearly $700 billion, on top of $1.35 trillion in tax cuts passed two years ago. The main feature of the Bush plan is a brand new tax cut for the richest Americans: the elimination of the tax on corporate dividends. The plan also would accelerate all the income tax rate cuts in the 2001 law, including the rate cuts in the top brackets. It would accelerate some parts of the child tax credit and marriage penalty and bonus provisions of the 2001 law. But the plan would NOT speed up the provisions already on the books that especially help the working poor, such as the increased refundability of the child tax credit for low-income families and marriage penalty relief for couples eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit. President Bush also renewed his call to make all of the 2001 tax cuts permanent, emphasizing the repeal of the estate tax - even though it is irrelevant for 98% of Americans.

These tax cuts threaten to sabotage all of the priorities critical to women, and the large majority of Americans. When we urge our policy makers to strengthen and improve Social Security and Medicare, improve education and training, help families get quality, affordable child care and health care, we already are hearing, "We can't afford it; we're at war." But the fact is, the first Bush tax cut is the main reason that surpluses as far as the eye can see have turned into deficits as far as the eye can see. And now, the President is calling on women and their families to sacrifice even more of their economic security, and their hopes for the future, to provide even more tax breaks for millionaires.

The plan the President proposes has three major flaws.

It's not stimulative: it doesn't give the economy, or struggling families and states, the help they need during this economic downturn.

It's unfair, especially to women and their families.

It's fiscally irresponsible: it will undermine women's priorities - and national priorities - for decades to come.

First, the tax cutwill do little to stimulate the weak economy. It doesn't put money into the hands of those who most need it and will spend it, increasing the demand for goods and services; instead of short-term stimulus, the Bush plan gives long-term tax breaks to the wealthiest, who are more likely to save. It offers no fiscal relief to states facing budget crises, where millions of women and their families are already suffering from cutbacks in health care, child care, education, training, and other services. Indeed, it will cost states $4-5 billion in additional lost revenue per year, on top of what the 2001 tax cut already is costing states.

Second, the plan is unfair. Let's look at who benefits from the new Bush tax cut plan - and who doesn't.

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