" . In talking about his
2001 tax cut, the President specifically promised that there would be "more than 17.4 million small business owners and entrepreneurs
who stand to benefit from dropping the top rate from 39.6% to 33%" - the major piece of his proposal.2
But according to nonpartisan analyses of IRS and Treasury
Department data, just 3.7% of small business owners are subject to these top tax rates - meaning the rest receive almost nothing
from the major piece of his plan.3
In other words, for every small business owner that benefits, there
are 15 small business owners that do not. All told, small business owners "would be far more likely to receive no tax reduction
whatsoever from the Administration's tax package than to benefit" in any way.
On a campaign trip to Michigan yesterday, President Bush echoed one of his familiar claims, saying
"I want to remind people about is that the tax relief was geared toward small businesses...When you hear us talking about
reducing all taxes on individuals, you really hear also the message that we're reducing taxes on small businesses."1
This statement is the most recent in a long line of similar assertions - an unscientific Lexis-Nexis
search shows, that in just the three years since Bush became President, he and Vice President Cheney have given at least 150
separate speeches claiming that their tax proposals are specifically geared to helping small business.
But simple
statistics show just how misleading these statements are. ...
President Bush is fond of telling small business owners how much he cares about them. As he said on December
1st, "We want people to feel like if you want to be a small business owner, there's a chance for you."1 But just
four days later, he showed his true colors in a visit to Home Depot ...
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