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$116 Billion in Wasted Temporary Tax Cuts

Posted By Conn Carroll On February 17, 2009 @ 1:39 pm In Ongoing Priorities | 1 Comment

The Wall Street Journal [1] reports today:

The Obama administration is betting that an extra $8 a week in most Americans’ paychecks will boost consumer spending and help pull the U.S. out of its downturn.
…
The $116 billion in tax credits for 95% of Americans will come largely through reduced tax withholding from paychecks, over two years, rather than one-time payments.

The idea: let money trickle out to consumers so it feels like a permanent income boost.

But its not!!! The tax cuts the Obama Administration put into this bill and said were completely non-negotiable [2], are completely temporary. They expire in two years. The 2001 President George Bush tax rebates, and the 2008 President Bush tax rebates both completely failed [3] because they were both temporary measures. The Obama Administration tax cuts repeat the exact same Bush Administration mistake.

Their is an alternative to the Bush-Obama Bailout Parade [4]. Not all tax cuts are created equal [5]. Permanent tax cuts have a strong track record [5] of increasing economic growth. Instead, the Obama Administration’s temporary tax cuts are going to be just a complete $116 billion waste.

Article printed from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org

URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/02/17/116-billion-in-wasted-temporary-tax-cuts/

URLs in this post:

[1] Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123482899369695367.html?mod=article-outset-box

[2] completely non-negotiable: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18033.html

[3] 2001 President George Bush tax rebates, and the 2008 President Bush tax rebates both completely failed: http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed011008c.cfm

[4] Bush-Obama Bailout Parade: http://www.foundry.org/2009/02/09/the-seven-floats-of-the-bush-obama-borrow-bailout-parade/

[5] Not all tax cuts are created equal: http://www.foundry.org/2009/01/22/not-all-tax-cuts-are-created-equal/

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