Tax-Cut-Fightin’ Blues
What next for the forces trying to stop George W. Bush’s tax cut?

April 11, 2001 5:15 p.m.

lthough they are sticking to their vow to stop George W. Bush's proposed tax cut, these days there's a distinct tone of

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concern coming from the leaders of the Fair Taxes for All Coalition. The coalition, organized by the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way, held a news conference in Washington Wednesday to announce a new campaign — including radio ads and demonstrations in 42 cities across the country — against the tax cut. Coalition leaders told reporters the issue has become particularly urgent in light of the Senate's passage of a resolution calling for a more than $1.2 trillion cut.

"We consider that a first-step victory," Ralph Neas, head of People for the American Way, said of the Senate's decision to trim $400 billion from the president's original $1.6 trillion proposal. "But $1.2 trillion is still far too large and far too irresponsible." Neas hopes to trim the size of the cut, but the problem for his coalition is that the resolution got 65 votes in the Senate — all 50 Republicans plus 15 Democrats. And the White House and its allies on Capitol Hill are determined to increase the final cut to a figure closer to the president's original proposal.

That's where the new campaign comes in. Neas announced that the coalition will target some of the states with Democratic senators who voted for the tax cut. For example, when discussing a new study on how the tax cut will affect people in each state, Neas specifically pointed to Delaware, where Democratic senator Thomas Carper voted for the cut, and to Louisiana, where Democrats John Breaux and Mary Landrieu also voted yes. In Delaware, according to the coalition's new report, 29 percent of the people — including 70,000 children — would receive no benefit at all from the tax cut. In Louisiana, Neas said, 41 percent of the people — including 496,000 kids — would receive no benefit at all. When Democrats who voted for the cut see those numbers, Neas added, "they are going to start reconsidering."

But Neas's argument, which has become the basis of the coalition's strategy to stop the cut, suffers from an inherent flaw. The president's income-tax-cut proposal is across-the-board, which means that the only people who would not benefit from it are those who already pay no income taxes at all. When asked about that, Neas passed the microphone to Christine Owens of the AFL-CIO. Owens did not dispute that the families in question pay no income taxes, but said those families remain burdened by other taxes. "These are families that pay payroll taxes," she explained, "which for low wage working families are in fact the biggest hit." But no one on the panel was willing to speak up in favor of a cut in payroll taxes.

Or any other taxes, for that matter. When a reporter asked Gerald McEntee, head of the American Federal of State, County, and Municipal Employees, whether anyone in America — any group at all — is overtaxed, McEntee could only make a joke. "Yeah, me!" he answered, laughing loudly. The labor boss then went on to endorse Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's proposal for a one-time only tax rebate.

So the coalition faces a difficult situation. There are 65 senators on the other side of the issue. And even though Neas believes he can change minds and votes on Capitol Hill, he clearly faces an uphill battle. Perhaps because of that, Neas's oratory has become a bit more apocalyptic in recent days. "This is truly the first time since 1932 that right-wing leadership controls so much of the federal government, and there are so few checks and balances," he said Wednesday. "Everything that this nation has stood for for the last 30, 40, 50 years, going back to the New Deal, is at risk. Everything that we've ever cared about, everything that we've ever believed in, everything that we've ever fought for is in jeopardy."

Not the words of a man with momentum on his side.