Skewed Priorities

Skewed Priorities

October 21, 2005

• For many, the shocking images of Americans left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that this country needed to reassess its priorities to improve the lives of the least fortunate. The conservative leadership in Congress was not so moved. They are proposing $35 billion in cuts for programs that benefit the least fortunate to help pay for new tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
  
  
• The majority of tax relief proposed by Congress will likely go to the richest Americans. Likely to be included in the package of cuts are extensions to capital gains and dividends tax cuts, and other provisions expiring in 2008. According to an analysis by Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center "53 percent of the benefits from these...provisions...are going to the 0.2 percent of households with incomes over $1 million a year." Three-quarters of these tax cuts "are going to the 3.3 percent of households with incomes exceeding $200,000 a year."
  
  
• Programs likely to face the chopping block include Medicaid, food stamps and student loans. The program cuts are being sold as a painful but necessary step to reduce the federal decifit. But don't believe the hype. The $35 billion in program cuts are being paired with $70 billion in new tax cuts for the wealthy, resulting in a net increase in the deficit. The federal budget should be a refection of our values and priorities. This year's budget process shows that Congress still doesn't get it.