It's the same old class-warfare refrain from the Democrats. They can't motivate people to get behind their proposals unless they first get people to hate their opponents. I heard a Democrat congressman on Hannity and Colmes last night pooh-poohing a provision in the Bush plan that may eliminate the tax on dividend income from stocks, and the Dem said "This only would benefit the wealthy, because only 20% of people own stocks." LIE! I don't know the figure, but it's close to two-thirds of Americans that own stocks, considering all of the 401Ks there are out there.
But consider the big picture. What everyone is talking about is a tax cut. The debate is over what type of tax cut. Dems want a tax cut that goes to people with incomes below $50,000. Bush wants something that is more broad in its impact. But everyone is talking tax cuts! We've won!!! The Dems can only win, politically, if they take an essentially conservative position.
I know, quite a shift in political mood from a decade ago when Clinton and the Dems passed one of the largest tax increases in history and tried to pass that billion dollar boondogle 'stimulus' plan.
It makes me wonder, though, what is in that 'aid package' for the states. How much $$$ for Homeland Defense will be spent on people guarding coral reefs and other 'vital' national resources. Could be just as bad.
As far as the Dem congressman and his stats, her is what the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported:
Paying dividends
Published Jan. 7, 2003 CUTBX
"The centerpiece of President Bush's stimulus package is cutting the tax on stock dividends. An Internal Revenue Service analysis of tax returns filed in 2000 indicates that just 26.4 percent of filers listed dividend income.
"63 percent of such a cut would go to the 29.1 percent of filers with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) above $100,000."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/3575126.html