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May 20, 2002, 8:45 a.m. Bush’s Unfinished Symphony The president’s tax cuts must be made permanent. By Eric V. Schlecht

here is a widely accepted — and fairly accurate — axiom in Washington that once a government program or entitlement is established, it's next to impossible to get rid of it. There is a dramatic exception to this rule, however. Not only is it breathtakingly easy to cancel a tax cut, it's almost impossible to get Washington to accept a permanent tax cut in the first place.

The most recent example of this grim reality is last year's tax cut. It was the Washington equivalent of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony — a great achievement with much work left to be completed. That's because many of the tax cuts don't kick in for years and all of them are repealed in 2011. Unfortunately, much of the press failed to report this rather significant fact and therefore many Americans are unaware that the tax cuts they overwhelmingly supported last year have, for the most part, yet to take effect and were never permanent to begin with.

For instance, marriage-penalty relief doesn't even begin to phase in until the year 2005 and isn't complete until 2010. Furthermore, the marriage penalty is reinstated in 2011 when the Bush tax cut is repealed. Total time without the marriage penalty: one year.

The demise of the death tax takes place slowly over ten years, leaving seniors a narrow one-year gap in which they can pass to the great beyond without the government taking half of their possessions. The child tax credit doesn't fully phase in until 2010, giving parents just one short year to take advantage of the full credit. The same phase-ins apply to the vast majority of the tax cuts contained in the Bush tax cut.

None of this is the fault of President Bush, however, who wanted permanent tax cuts from the beginning. The fault lies squarely with the Democratic leadership in the Senate who abused arcane Senate rules to require 60 votes for permanent tax cuts. With the Democrats holding the majority of seats in the Senate, this was an impossibility at the time. Thus, temporary tax cuts became a fait accompli.

Astonishingly, and yet predictably, some Democrats are already calling for repeal of the Bush tax cut before the vast majority of it is even implemented. Fortunately for Americans, President Bush is attempting to rectify this situation. He is calling for the passage of legislation that would make his tax cuts permanent. The House of Representatives, on a largely party-line vote, passed just such a bill last month.

It seems the Democratic leadership in the House believes that letting people keep more of their hard-earned money on a permanent basis is fiscally irresponsible. Congressman Gephardt claims he is worried about deficits (it apparently hasn't dawned on the minority leader that he could avoid deficits by reducing federal spending). It is apparently not fiscally irresponsible, however, to incur deficits due to massive increases in federal spending. One can only presume this is the Democrats' philosophy given their calls this year to increase spending on practically every government program under the sun.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Tom Daschle is promising Americans that he will ". . . never bring up the permanent tax cut the president is advocating." Why not at least allow a vote? Could it be that the good Senator is aware that too many of his colleagues would now feel as most Americans do and would subsequently pass such legislation?

While Daschle may have commitment issues when it comes to tax relief, he is a long-term commitment guy when it comes to federal programs — unwilling to cut ties with any of them. Such fiscal schizophrenia is mind-boggling.

The importance of making the Bush tax cuts permanent cannot be understated. First and foremost, the tax cuts provide much-needed relief to taxpayers. Perhaps even more importantly, however, the tax cuts will immensely help the economy throughout the next decade and beyond. As the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers recently noted, the Bush tax cuts were a significant factor in leading America's economy out of what could have been a much deeper recession. Refusing to make the cuts permanent — or even worse, repealing them — could have a cataclysmic effect on our nation's economy. Stock prices could drop, unemployment could rise, and long-term growth could be significantly hampered.

Obviously, a great deal is riding on the Senate's action — or lack thereof — on this matter. The time has long passed for the Democratic leadership to put petty politics behind them and think of the best interests of all taxpayers. They can begin that process by passing legislation to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.

But as Congressman Gephardt has demonstrated and Senator Daschle has promised, it'll be a cold day before that happens. Too bad for taxpayers everywhere.

Benjamin Franklin once famously noted that the only certain things in life are death and taxes. It appears that the Democratic leadership has updated that little truism to "The only certain thing in Washington is the death of tax cuts."

— Eric V. Schlecht is director of congressional relations for the National Taxpayers Union.