The latest economic stimulus plan offered by President Bush is neither fair nor effective. It would speed up tax breaks for the wealthy and shortchange the real stimulus we need.

The richest 1 percent of taxpayers, with incomes averaging over $1 million a year, would get an average $16,275 income tax cut in 2002 under the Bush plan. Middle Americans would get $11, reports Citizens for Tax Justice; the bottom 40 percent of taxpayers would get nothing.

As economic stimulus this makes no sense. The wealthy are much less likely to spend extra income than those who can't make ends meet.

During the boom, we grew further apart. Last year, at the boom's height, the poverty rate among children in working families was higher than before the boom began. Average workers have still not caught up to the wages of their counterparts in 1973, adjusting for inflation. The minimum wage, just $10,712 a year, is worth 35 percent less than it was in 1968.

The rich don't need more tax relief. Their income and wealth skyrocketed during the boom. The top 1 percent has as much after-tax income as the 100 million Americans with the lowest incomes, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports. The top 1 percent already has nearly as much wealth as the bottom 95 percent of Americans combined.

Numerous affluent Americans have given their unneeded tax rebates to charitable organizations. Now they should tell Congress to forget the tax cuts.

Those tax cuts would be as irresponsible as taking your paychecks, retirement savings and children's college funds and blowing them on a gambling spree.

Taxes are the way we unite our money to pay for programs that serve the nation--from firefighters to teachers, police to parks, EMTs to environmental protection. The paper surplus has vanished. Budget cutbacks used to offset tax cuts will be very real and painful.

What if instead of speeding up tax cuts, we repealed the tax cuts for the top 2 percent of earners scheduled to take effect in 2004? We would have nearly a trillion more dollars in coming years to meet national needs.

About 39 million Americans, including more than 8 million children, have no health insurance of any kind--not private, not Medicaid, not anything. Lack of health insurance is associated with a 25 percent higher risk of death. Inadequate health insurance is one reason the United States ranks No. 1 in the world in wealth, but only 32nd in child mortality under age 5.

In the last year, 1.5 million Americans have joined the unemployment ranks. Unemployment is expected to jump in coming months. We must not only close the gaping holes in the unemployment safety net, we must put Americans back to work. We can do that, in part, by redirecting funds from private tax cuts to investment in public infrastructure, health and safety.

We need the kind of genuine economic stimulus plan proposed by the Economic Policy Institute. Their two-year $265 billion program funds a professionally trained and compensated security service for airports and Amtrak, strengthens unemployment insurance, and invests in affordable housing, high-speed rail service and school construction. It provides tax rebates to the taxpayers who got none this year. It funds state revenue sharing, a critical measure to prevent severe budget cuts by states required to balance their budgets despite rising unemployment and falling tax revenue.

We need economic renewal that strengthens the American people. In the last century, our nation fought the Depression with innovative New Deal programs that brought Americans closer together and employed people in building bridges, airports, water works, schools, hospitals and parks that we use to this day.

What legacy will we build in the name of the thousands killed on Sept. 11?

Holly Sklar is coauthor of the new book, "Raise The Floor: Wages and Policies That Work For All Of Us" (www.raisethefloor.org). She can be reached at hsklar@aol.com.

Copyright 2001 Holly Sklar.
Please do not reprint without permission.

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