Gov. Jim Doyle held a press conference Tuesday with U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Ron Kind, D-Wis., to discuss possible effects on Wisconsin of President Bush’s newly congressionally approved federal budget.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Bush discussed the nation’s suffering economy with small-business owners in the Rose Garden of the White House on the day of the deadline for federal income-tax forms to be sent to the Internal Revenue Service.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives worked through the night last Thursday to pass Bush’s budget, including its $550 billion in tax cuts, on to the Senate, where the tax-break amount has been whittled to $350 billion.
“The nation needs quick action by our Congress on a pro-growth economic package. We need tax relief totaling at least $550 million to make sure our economy grows,” Bush said. “And American workers and American businesses need every bit of that relief now so that people who want to find a job can find one, so that people that are looking for work are able to put food on the table for their families.”
Kind, a member of the House Budget Committee, said because it creates national debt that will stifle future national economies, the budget would be paid for in full by citizens’ children.
“It is morally irresponsible for the federal government to leave our children with this debt at the same time it is failing to meet its obligation to provide a fair share of public education funds,” Kind said.
Baldwin has been an adversary of Bush’s cuts since he proposed them and argued that the exemptions would only benefit the very wealthy members of American society.
“When I’ve talked to unemployed workers, they’ve asked how Congress plans to put them and the rest of America back to work,” Baldwin said. “These are the priorities of Wisconsin, and they are not reflected in this budget.”
Baldwin’s press secretary, Jonathan Beeton, said Bush’s tax breaks are designed to put a quick injection of cash into the nation’s economy by giving money back to taxpayers who will in turn spend on goods and services.
“A family of four with an income of $40,000 would receive a 96 percent reduction in federal income taxes,” Bush said. “That money can help families with purchases they have been delaying. That money will be in circulation, which will be good for our economy.”
Beeton agreed a good catalyst for economic recovery would be putting tax dollars back in the hands of families but said that Bush’s plan would not effectively do this.
Beeton cited economist studies that show 27 percent of Wisconsinites would not benefit at all from Bush’s cuts and 47 percent would receive less than $100 in tax refunds. However, those state citizens with annual incomes of more than $1 million would get nearly $24,000 in returns.
Doyle bemoaned the fact that Bush’s budget would leave states to pick up the cost of federally mandated initiatives such as homeland security, education and prescription drugs.
“At a time when our state faces a $3.2 billion deficit, unfounded and underfunded mandates from Washington have made matters much worse,” Doyle said.
