NYPost

DUBYA DISSES DEMS' $300 ONE-SHOT PLAN FOR TAX REBATE

Wednesday,March 28,2001

By DEBORAH ORIN

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday rejected Democratic calls for a one-time $300 tax rebate to juice up the economy, saying Americans need permanent tax cuts as well as a quick "pick-me-up."

"Our economy needs more than a pick-me-up, more than a one-time boost," the president told the Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce as he touted his "just right" $1.6 trillion tax cut in Michigan.

"Lower rates do not stimulate much economic activity unless people can rely on them for years down the road. Lower tax rates mean a new home will be affordable not just the first year but every year."

Bush also sent a clear "don't blame me for the economy" message, saying stock markets "have been declining steadily for more than a year" - meaning the slide began on Bill Clinton's watch.

But the president - who last week said he's receptive to Senate GOP calls to make $60 billion in tax cuts retroactive right away - offered no specifics on how he'd get money back to taxpayers fast.

The speech instead was Bush's bid to counter the Democratic Party's new push for a quickie $300 rebate check for every taxpayer - $600 per couple - regardless of income.

Democrats are billing the one-time rebate as a counter to Bush's full tax cut - that could ease political pressures on the Democrats since they could say they'd backed tax cuts even if they voted against Bush's plan.

But Bush said the economy - which he described as "somewhat winded but fundamentally strong" - needs more than a one-time cut to create a "pro-growth environment" for the future.

To back up Bush, the Treasury Department released a 1992 Congressional Research Service study that says a permanent tax cut does twice as much as a one-time rebate to rev up the economy.

"In the first year, a rebate probably has no more than half the stimulative effect of a permanent tax reduction of comparable magnitude," the report says.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001