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Denying Dubya's Bribe: The Push to Reject the Tax Rebate
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Thanks to the Bush/Cheney tax cut, many Americans will soon be discovering government gifts in their mailboxes. Within the next month or so, $300 rebate checks ($600 for married couples) will be mailed to three fourths of the tax-paying public.
You could do much with this money. Buy a month of healthcare for your family. Fill a couple SUVs with gas. Pay H&R Block to do your taxes. Or, for those of you who voted against George W. and his fiscal policies, you can put your money where your mouth is -- donate your $300 to an organization suffering from Dubya's budget cuts.
Double Your Tax Cut Donation | ||
"We see it as poetic justice," said UFE's Chuck Collins. "By giving their rebates to groups working against the repeal of the estate tax and the uneven tax cut, they help fund a tax fairness the rebates work against."
In a recent column, syndicated writer Ellen Goodman helped publicize these campaigns and urged people to refuse Bush's hush money. "So you were an opponent of the tax cut," Goodman wrote, "You called the president's 'tax relief' a four-letter word: s-c-a-m ... You didn't want it; give it away. You don't like the budget; make your own."
Since Goodman's column spread, donations to another pledge site have nearly doubled. Almost $200,000 has been pledged at TaxRebatePledge.org, and the bulletin boards are filled with feedback from those tired of merely complaining about the Bush administration and eager to act against it.
Alas, not all can make such pledges. About 26 percent of the population, mostly folks in the lowest income brackets, will receive no rebate at all. These also happen to be the people most often helped by the services suffering from Republican budgetary cuts.
"It is not a tax cut," said Collins, "its a tax shift. A shift off the wealthiest 1% who will be receiving 38% of the this tax cut and onto the lower classes. This tax rebate is but a bribe: a sweetner for a bitter pill."
The sites also provide extensive lists of donation options. A third rebate donation site, DonateRebate.org, links to a list of over 700 nonprofit services. On the UFE site, pledge options range from donating to "tax fairness" organizations to redirecting the money back to the U.S. Treasury.
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