Kerry: Bush Is Collecting His $200 Million Rebate On Tax Cuts

Kerry...denounced Bush's prodigious fundraising -- the president's campaign expects to raise $200 million to spend between now and the Republican National Convention -- calling it a payoff for three tax cuts that Kerry said were aimed primarily at the rich. "I think President Bush has basically been running around the country collecting his rebate for the tax cut he gave people and I think it's polluting American politics to the worst degree," he said.

Calling the economy the worst "in many, many years," Kerry said Bush bears the responsibility for not creating jobs or a more robust recovery. "The Bush administration policy," he said, "is dead wrong." He said as president he would repeal the portion of the Bush tax cuts that primarily benefits the wealthiest taxpayers and provide a "payroll tax holiday" for workers. Kerry advocated infrastructure investments to create jobs and said he also would reduce the deficit.

On an issue related to corporate scandals, Kerry for the first time endorsed the carrying of stock options as a corporate expense. The use of stock options was abused by some companies and contributed to overly optimistic balance sheets. Kerry applauded steps by Microsoft Corp. to eliminate stock options for employees and said all publicly traded companies should be required to expense such options.

http://www.johnkerry.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6928&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

How can anyone reasonably suggest to our fellow Americans that the way to get the economy moving today is to cut taxes 8 years from now?

And as for fairness, we’re not calling for redistribution - what we want is for average, middle class Americans who work hard to be able to get ahead just like their parents did. 20 years ago, the average CEO made 42 times what the average worker made. Now it’s 531 times more. It’s out of whack. Yet 40 percent of Bush’s tax giveaway goes to that very top 1 percent. I think that’s an attack on the fundamental fairness that holds this country together.

And perhaps most outrageous if the violation of generational responsibility -- The largest cost of the Bush tax giveaway will not be born by any of us here today - it will be paid for by our children. That’s right - we’re borrowing from Social Security and Medicare to put money in some peoples’pockets today - and sticking our children with the bill.

Unfortunately, while this President talks tough on corporate accountability - his administration has worked tirelessly to undermine reform and sabotage any meaningful oversight of the accounting industry. They even tried to cut next year’s budget for the SEC by $200 million - further weakening enforcement of corporate crimes.

Frankly, we need a President whose approach to abuse is a little more like Teddy Roosevelt and a little less like Herbert Hoover when it comes to keeping an eye on corporate America. We need an SEC chairman who will put investors ahead of industry, an Accounting Oversight Board chairman who will make sure they correct the books, instead of cooking them. And we need to give the SEC the tools it needs to enforce the laws.

And if we’re serious about fairness - and about holding the fabric of
America together - we must eliminate unfair tax shelters and cut corporate welfare. This will not only save taxpayers money - it will put government back on the side of the people and allow us to focus on actually creating jobs.

Just think - offshore tax havens and shelters enable corporations and
executives to evade an estimated $70 billion in taxes each year. How can anyone in this country suggest we have a fair system when companies can take $70 billion off the table? That undermines the very essence of our government. It’s a system only companies like Enron could love. And did they ever. Enron held over 800 subsidiaries in countries with no taxes on income, profits, or capital gains -- 692 in the Cayman Islands alone. I believe in opening new markets and I want American companies to win. But I know we can distinguish between legitimate businesses and sham transactions. Assets in offshore entities have climbed from an estimated $200 billion in 1983, to an estimated $5 trillion today - and too many are brass plate addresses with a fax machine in an offshore tax haven.

What does that say to the vast majority of Americans who actually pay taxes? And the silence from this Administration speaks volumes! They’ve dragged their feet and fought every attempt to crack down on corporate loopholes. It’s time we stood up and insisted on real reform and real tax fairness.

We must also take a hard look at federal spending. We simply can’t afford to keep wasting money on the wrong things.

It won’t be easy. The special interests will stop at nothing to keep their special deals. That’s why I’ve joined John McCain in calling for a “Corporate Subsidy Reform Commission” modeled after the military base-closing commission. A bipartisan group would recommend corporate subsidies to be eliminated and Congress would have to vote up or down on the entire package.

http://www.johnkerry.com/site/PageServer?pagename=spc_2002_1203

because it allows different candidates to attack Bush. I also think it's good that we have so many different candidates because it's harder for the Republicans to attack all of them without being too obvious. Finally, it allows us as voters to get to know the candidates over a period of time.

Glad I found it.

the "Pioneers" paid up front in 1999 and 2000 for the "tax cut for the rich".

middle class.

At least that was last week's waffles.

Some of the candidates propose repealing ALL the tax cuts. That would in fact be an effective tax hike on the middle class. Leaving the child tax credits and tax cuts that benefit married people, for exammple, would not be raising the middle class's taxes. He supports cutting the tax cuts for the upper 1% and corporations, that's where the bulk of the tax cuts went. He's said the exact same thing over and over and over again.

We will put the money back into the economy like we always do. At the very least we can pay off these god-damned credit cards.

Fat cat rich bitches will pocket the money. Kerry says it is fine to give tax breaks to corporations as long as they re-invest and create new jobs. He is not anti-business, but he is pro-fairness.