OT: On tax day, Bush focuses on the economy
By BILL STRAUB
Scripps Howard News Service
April 12, 2002
WASHINGTON - While millions of Americans line up for the annual rite of dropping their returns into the mailbox, President Bush will take the opportunity to reiterate his claim that federal taxes are too high and that a faltering economy was bolstered by the cuts he pushed through Congress last year.
Bush on Monday will visit Iowa to participate in a roundtable discussion and offer some thoughts on the economy and taxes.
The remarks come at a time when the economy appears to be gaining momentum after last year's recession, which most analysts have termed mild. Growth in the first quarter of 2002 is expected to reach a 4 percent to 5 percent annual rate. The number of jobs rose by 58,000 in March alone.
To this point, Bush has been cautious in statements about the rebounding economy, telling the Wall Street Journal this week that the recovery remains "fragile'' and could be adversely affected by rising oil prices - noting Saddam Hussein's decision to stop shipping oil to the United States.
Ari Fleischer, the president's press secretary, said Bush "remains concerned about the strength of the economy'' while acknowledging there are "good signs'' on the horizon.
"The president is heartened to see that,'' Fleischer said Friday. "It may very well be when economists look back, the tax cut that was such a controversial tax cut in the minds of some, that passed with such overwhelming bipartisan support, may have been just the right medicine at the right time to help get the economy going back again.''
Aides anticipate that Bush will touch on that theme Monday and take another opportunity to recommend that Congress move to make the $1.35 trillion tax cut package permanent instead of letting it expire in 10 years as scheduled. The proposition hasn't attracted the support of the Senate Democratic majority.
Speaking in Philadelphia earlier this month, Bush said that "it's important to let people have more of their own money so they can spend it.''
"When people have more of their own money it creates demand,'' Bush said. "And when people demand more goods and services, somebody will produce the goods and services. And when somebody produces the goods and services, somebody can find work.''
Bush is particularly adamant when he talks about abolishing the estate tax, which he regularly refers to as the "death tax.'' Speaking at a Connecticut Republican Committee luncheon on April 9, Bush said, "We sent the death tax on its way.
"But unfortunately there's a quirk in the law that means the repeal of the death tax is not permanent,'' he said. "It's hard for me to explain why you eliminate the death tax and all of a sudden it's able to come back to life. That's Washington.''
The repeal needs to be made permanent, Bush said, to help "small-business owners all over the country who've worked all their life, who want to leave their business to their heirs, to a son or daughter, and can't do so because of the death tax.''
The Bush tax cut added 441 changes in the tax code and more changes may be on the way. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who will be giving his own "tax day'' speech in Grand Rapids, Mich., has characterized the current tax code as "an abomination'' that represents "a drag on our productivity and ability to create jobs."
The Treasury Department is in the process of drafting a series of white papers intended to simplify the 1.4 million-word code, as well as the 650 forms and 13,000 pages of explanation it requires.
