| WASHINGTON
- May 14 - The version of the Bush
Administration's tax cut bill this week adopted by the Senate
Finance Committee -- scaled back from the initial Administration
proposal -- sacrifices protections for millions of children in to
pay for massive new tax breaks tilted toward America's 189,795
millionaires, according to a state-by-state analysis today released
by the Children's Defense Fund. The cost of the Senate's tax break
package is more than enough to provide full health coverage and
Head Start's comprehensive preschool services for all the children
in America who need it -- 9.2 million children without health
insurance and 1.8 million who need Head Start but do not receive
it, even though they are eligible.
Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman said
such greed is shameful in the face of the unmet needs of America's
poor children, noting that the Administration and Congress have
made budget choices that starve and freeze children's protections
while heaping more money on millionaires.
"It is a question of our priorities: a few millionaires or
millions of children without health coverage," said Edelman. "We
must reject billions in giveaways to the rich masquerading as
economic stimulus. For the cost of the massive new tax breaks, we
could provide health insurance for all our children and provide
Head Start to every eligible child who needs it to succeed in
school."
The Senate Finance Committee's tax cut bill provides over
$64,000 to the average millionaire and $233 to the average
middle-income American, according to the Urban Institute-Brookings
Tax Policy Center.
The Children's Defense Fund last month found that the number of
Black children living in extreme poverty is at its highest level in
23 years and earlier this year reported that long-term unemployment
is spreading fastest in families with young children. The Bush
Administration claims its plan to dismantle, eliminate, cut and
freeze essential protections for children to pay for massive new
tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans will spur the economy. Ten
Nobel Prize winning economists noted that Bush Administration's tax
plan "is not the answer" to the recent surge in joblessness.
SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE TAX CUT TRADE-OFFS STATE-BY-STATE
ANALYSIS
-- Cost of SFC tax bill, as amended May 8: $46 billion in FY03
or $97 billion in FY04
-- Cost of insuring all children in 2003: $13 billion
-- Cost of Head Start for all children 0-5: $25 billion
STATE FINDINGS:
(State, Uninsured children, Estimated children 0-5 eligible for
Head
Start who would want it but do not receive it, Millionaires (tax
filers with at least $1 million in adjusted gross income in 2001))
Alabama...........115,000.....38,700.....1,364
Alaska.............29,000......3,400.......208
Arizona...........264,000.....49,800.....2,393
Arkansas...........88,000.....24,700.......588
California......1,578,000....292,600....30,843
Colorado..........167,000.....19,800.....3,369
Connecticut........69,000.....12,500.....6,845
Delaware...........15,000......3,600.......487
District of Col....14,000......4,900.......784
Florida...........662,000....103,100....12,892
Georgia...........291,000.....61,900.....4,457
Hawaii.............28,000......6,200.......392
Idaho..............61,000......9,900.......361
Illinois..........380,000.....67,800.....9,904
Indiana...........170,000.....35,200.....2,034
Iowa...............48,000.....12,100.......728
Kansas.............79,000.....13,900.....1,042
Kentucky..........108,000.....32,100.....1,080
Louisiana.........226,000.....50,400.... 1,481
Maine..............22,000......5,000.......409
Maryland..........138,000.....21,700.....3,636
Massachusetts.....109,000.....25,700.....7,739
Michigan..........205,000.....46,900.....3,990
Minnesota..........80,000.....17,200.....3,015
Mississippi........96,000.....19,300.......649
Missouri...........80,000.....34,100.....2,344
Montana............38,000......6,800.......212
Nebraska...........38,000......7,500.......677
Nevada.............92,000.....15,700.....1,919
New Hampshire......22,000......3,800.......873
New Jersey........210,000.....35,200....10,499
New Mexico........111,000.....20,400.......761
New York..........529,000....153,400....26,350
North Carolina....238,000.....56,500.....3,080
North Dakota.......16,000......3,100.......132
Ohio..............275,000.....64,500.....4,159
Oklahoma..........159,000.....29,100.....1,159
Oregon............106,000.....21,000.....1,284
Pennsylvania......217,000.....61,900.....6,011
Rhode Island.......12,000......6,500.......520
South Carolina....130,000.....29,700.....1,226
South Dakota.......19,000......5,300.......263
Tennessee.........111,000.....43,600.....2,389
Texas...........1,411,000....216,900....12,928
Utah...............80,000.....13,700.......808
Vermont.............8,000......2,000.......235
Virginia..........196,000.....34,100.....4,012
Washington........176,000.....37,900.....4,288
West Virginia......46,000.....13,900.......270
Wisconsin..........94,000.....21,600.....2,319
Wyoming............18,000......2,600.......387
United States..9.2 million..1.8 million..189,795
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