-Caveat Lector-
Bush Tax Cuts - There are at least 4 pre-designed outcomes of the Bush Tax
cuts, IMHO:
- Massive transfer of wealth to the energy-petroleum-nuclear oligarchy
- Programmed mpoverishment of lower 50% of USA population
- Shredding of social and physical (education; transportation)
infrastructure in USA
- Shredding of "safety nets" (health & human welfare) for large percentage of
population.
Goal: Destabilization of USA and stealth imposition of "friendly fascism"
regime.
Bush tax cuts already being felt in Texas (see below)
EcoNews Service
http://www.ecologynews.com
=====
February 12, 2001
Some Fault Bush Tax Cuts for Lean Days in Texas
By JIM YARDLEY
OUSTON, Feb. 11 — While President Bush is lobbying Congress to pass his
$1.6
trillion tax cut proposal in Washington, lawmakers in his home state are
struggling
with budget problems that some critics are tracing to tax cuts Mr. Bush
passed here as
governor.
For the last week, state legislators have grown increasingly testy about
budget projections
showing that the state will have little, if any, money to spare. Lawmakers in
both parties
are talking of possible cutbacks after the projections showed that the
state's once-healthy
surplus might be nearly erased by budget overruns, particularly from health
care costs like
Medicaid.
"There's no doubt in my mind that George W. Bush's tax cuts have put us in
the situation
we're in right now," said State Senator Mario Gallegos, a Houston Democrat
who regularly
criticized Mr. Bush in the presidential campaign.
Mr. Bush's record of cutting taxes in Texas was a centerpiece of his
presidential
campaign. In 1997 and 1999, Mr. Bush shepherded a total of $2.9 billion in
tax cuts
through the State Legislature, much of it in the form of property tax
reductions for
homeowners. At the same time, budget surpluses enabled lawmakers to expand
financing
for education and some other services.
But the legislative session that began last month in Austin is shaping up
very differently.
Last week Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, hinted that his ambitious program
for higher
education and improving the state's roads and highways might have to be
scaled down.
Bill Ratliff, the acting lieutenant governor, said that there would not be a
tax increase, an
idea floated by a handful of legislators, and that any predictions of budget
cuts were
premature.
"I'm not prepared to start pushing any panic buttons," said Mr. Ratliff, a
Republican, noting
that the real work on the budget would begin next month.
The Texas Legislature meets every other year, and the projected state budget
for the next
two years is $108.2 billion. While this reflects a $5.1 billion increase in
revenue, the
growing cost of programs like Medicaid will swallow nearly all the extra
money. One
estimate shows that the state will have only $300 million to pay for any new
initiatives.
The growing cost of health care for the poor, largely Medicaid, is the
biggest budget
problem. Projections show that an additional $650 million is needed just so
that Medicaid
and other health care services will be financed for the current fiscal year,
which ends on
Aug. 31.
During the presidential race, Al Gore criticized the Texas tax cuts and
accused Mr. Bush
of mishandling the state's budget after news reports last July gave details
of cost overruns
for Medicaid. Mr. Gore's aides also seized on an off-the-cuff remark made by
Mr. Bush
about the state budget. "I hope I'm not here to deal with it," Mr. Bush said,
alluding to his
presidential hopes.
Scott McClellan, a White House spokesman, said today that Mr. Bush's agenda
in Texas,
including his tax cuts, "enjoyed strong bipartisan support."
"Texas is in strong, sound fiscal health," Mr. McClellan said.
The real impact of the tax cuts in Texas has been a subject of debate. Mr.
Bush's plan
allocated more state money for education, allowing local school districts to
cut property
taxes. But, in fact, many districts simply took the extra state money without
cutting rates. In
other cases, rising property assessments offset any savings. Studies have
shown that a
majority of Texans have not seen their taxes go down.
Garnet Coleman, a Democratic state representative from Houston, said part of
the current
Medicaid problems resulted from an accounting trick in which lawmakers in 1999
provided money for only 23 months. He said the decision not to finance the
24th month of
the two-year budget cycle helped provide a cushion that enabled the tax cuts
to be
passed.
The question now is whether the Medicaid costs will prevent lawmakers from
expanding
the program. Texas already has 1.5 million uninsured children, including an
estimated
600,000 who are eligible for Medicaid but are not enrolled.
After a legislative hearing last week on the rising Medicaid costs, State
Senator Chris
Harris, a Republican from Arlington, criticized the tax cuts. "We made tax
cuts because we
thought we had this huge surplus," he said, according to The Associated
Press. "I might
have voted a little differently on all those tax cuts had I realized that we
were only funding
23 months of these programs."
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
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