HIGHTOWER: Newt's Tax-Cut Flim-Flam
Are you ready for your big tax cut? The Republican congress is promising gumdrops for everyone, with Newt Gingrich saying the "Centerpiece" of his proposal is a tax credit for every child in America.Well, not exactly every child. If your family makes less than $30,000 a year -- which is half of us -- you don't get the $500 credit. In Newt's World, your children just aren't as worthy as those privileged to be born in higher income brackets.But this is hardly the only deception in the Republican tax plan. Behind the rhetoric, you'll find that their real giveaway is not to children, but to the elite -- the wealthiest one percent of Americans and the largest corporations.The true centerpiece of the package is a cut in the tax on "capital gains." What is this thing called "capital gains"? It's the profit you make when playing the stockmarket, or when you sell a shopping center, or when you gain from the sale of other assets.What? You don't own stocks, shopping centers or other such high-finance assets? Well, don't feel alone -- two-thirds of us do not own any stocks and bonds, and most of those who do have only tiny holdings that are our nest eggs, not something we buy and sell for specualation. Indeed, 90 percent of all such assets are held by the RICHEST ONE PERCENT of Americans, and they are the ones who will pocket the billions that Newt & Gang are doling-out in this giveaway.But wait!, Newt says, these people deserve the break because they will invest their windfall in new factories, construction and other projects that create jobs for the peons. That's a convenient theory, but in practice, these high-rollers dump their money into quick-buck currency transactions, foreign ventures and other high-return investments that don't build a thing for America.Don't be fooled by Newt's tax-cut flim-flam . . . it's just another hustle for the Fat Cats.Source:"G.O.P. Lawmaker unveils proposal for a big tax cut" by Richard W. Stevenson. The New York Times: June 10, 1997.
