What part of “the 2003 tax cuts are working” do Democrats not understand? Democratic Congressional leaders and the flaming liberal media are already beating the drum of rolling back President Bush’s 2003 tax cuts, even more tax increases to pay for rebuilding the Gulf Coast and aiding victims of Hurricane Katrina. They are either economically illiterate or intentionally deceiving the public.

When Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) was recently asked where the money should come from to pay for reconstruction efforts, she stated, “It comes from the first instance in not making those tax cuts for rich people like us permanent.” This is the same economic genius who last year told supporters at a San Francisco fundraiser, “We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.”

Let’s review the positive impact of the 2003 income, capital gains and dividend tax rate cuts on our current economy. GDP has increased for 15 consecutive quarters. The economy has added nearly 4 million jobs in the past 26 months. Unemployment is at 4.9% - the lowest level since September 2001, and lower than the decade averages of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) said of paying for recovery from Katrina, "We're either going to share the cost with everyone, including the wealthiest among us by foregoing the tax cuts for the wealthiest, or we're going to put all the burden on the middle class. We don't have to go forward with further tax cuts for the wealthy.”

Senator Biden, the wealthy already pay the vast majority of income taxes. In fact, those in the top 20% of income currently pay 80% of all taxes. Additionally, nearly 8 million low and middle-income families have seen their entire tax liabilities completely eliminated by the 2003 tax cuts.

Even former president Bill Clinton couldn’t resist politicizing the Katrina disaster to deceive the public. On making the tax cuts permanent, President Clinton stated that Democrats “Should continue to oppose it, and they should make it an issue in the 2006 election, and they should make it an issue in the 2008 election. I think it's very important that Americans understand... tax cuts are always popular, but about half of these tax cuts since 2001 have gone to people in my income group, the top 1 percent. I've gotten four tax cuts. They're responsible for this big structural deficit, and they're not going away, the deficits aren't."

In reality, Mr. Clinton, the federal budget deficit is dropping thanks to record increases in individual and corporate tax revenues. The Office of Management and Budget projects a fiscal year 2005 deficit 36% lower than the 2004 deficit.

Of course, these slick-talking politicians are not economically illiterate – they are intentionally deceiving the public. They can not argue against the fact that tax rate cuts have benefited our entire country, so they are using the opportunity of a horrific natural disaster to push their dream of a socialized economy on America. Continued...