Killed on Taxes

THE White House is gamely trying to put a positive spin on the Senate rejection of President Bush’s $1.6 trillion tax cut—Hey, at least we got the Democrats to agree to $1.2 trillion!— but in reality, this was a major blow to Bush’s program: The tax plan is shrinking at the very time when it could— and should—be growing. Worse, the administration has become vulnerable to a clever Democratic counterattack: Senate minority leader Tom Daschle and House minority leader Dick Gephardt now favor giving every worker a $300 tax-rebate check this year. The catch is they want to all but scuttle the longer-term income-tax rate cuts that are central to the Bush plan. “Our tax plan provides more tax relief, now when it’s needed most,” Daschle has slyly declared.

Daschle is at least partly right. The

About the Author

Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore is a co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, a senior visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and a senior economic adviser to the Trump campaign.

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THE White House is gamely trying to put a positive spin on the Senate rejection of President Bush’s $1.6 trillion tax cut—Hey, at least we got the Democrats to agree to $1.2 trillion!— but in reality, this was a major blow to Bush’s program: The tax plan is shrinking at the very time when it could— and should—be growing. Worse, the administration has become vulnerable to a clever Democratic counterattack: Senate minority leader Tom Daschle and House minority leader Dick Gephardt now favor giving every worker a $300 tax-rebate check this year. The catch is they want to all but scuttle the longer-term income-tax rate cuts that are central to the Bush plan. “Our tax plan provides more tax relief, now when it’s needed most,” Daschle has slyly declared.

Daschle is at least partly right. The

About the Author

Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore is a co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, a senior visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and a senior economic adviser to the Trump campaign.