The CBO has released their analysis of the president's budget. They find that the presiden't proposals would add $737 billion to the deficit over ten years.
President Bush is arguing that reducing the top marginal rate would "fuel" job growth.
The problem with using the top marginal tax rate as a tool to cut taxes on "small" businesses is that 1) it misses most small businesses - less than 4% of businesses make enough to be taxed at the top individual rate, and 2) it reduces taxes on upper income individuals regardless of the source income - thus it does not target businesses efficiently.
The 2005 Budget submitted by the president last week only contained partial information for spending over the next 5 years. The spending proposals for specific programs are contained in a 1,000 page Office of Management and Budget (OMB) computer run that was provided to some members of Congress, but was not included in the budget documents originally made available to the public.
Americans for a Fair Estate Tax in partnership with United for a Fair Economy and the Fair Taxes for All coalition is working to organize people throughout the country to come to Washington DC on March 9-10 to speak out against permanent repeal of the estate tax.
Nonprofits have a special interest in the estate tax, since a full repeal would mean the removal of an important incentive to give to charity. The Brookings/Urban Tax Policy Center recently estimated that a repeal of the estate tax would lead to an estimated $10 billion annual reduction in charitable giving.