OMB Watch is a member of Fair Taxes for All (FTFA), a growing coalition united in opposition to massive, irresponsible tax cuts.

President Bush's "economic growth" plan is a tax cut for millionaires that most economists agree will not effectively stimulate our weak economy or create jobs now. The reduction in public revenue resulting from the overall Bush tax package would leave our government $2 trillion dollars poorer, at a time when many public needs must be met. The FTFA website has fact sheets on the ramifications of these proposed tax cuts on local, state, and federal revenue, as well as analyses of the tradeoffs these tax cuts force. Read more about this effort and how you or your organization can get involved.

In the face of Bush’s new tax proposal (misleadingly billed as a “growth and jobs plan to strengthen the economy”), the Fair Taxes For All Coalition has been reconvened by People for the American Way, the National Women’s Law Center, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). A petition is being circulated opposing the Bush tax cut proposal:

With last week’s round of self-congratulating that followed the President’s signing of an extension of federally-funded unemployment benefits, one might think that the bill’s benefits would reach all unemployed workers in the country. Indeed, the bill’s signing came just in time for those workers whose regular (or state-funded) unemployment benefits ended December 28. Without the extension of the federally-funded “Temporary Emergency Unemployment Compensation” (TEUC), these workers would have been left with no assistance. Under the renewal of the TEUC, this group of unemployed workers will receive 13 weeks of federally-funded unemployment benefits, or up to 26 weeks, if they reside in states with exceptionally high unemployment rates.

OMB Watch strongly opposes the President’s “Growth and Jobs Plan to Strengthen the American Economy” for a host of reasons. There is no question that the President’s plan is bold. But it is unlikely to provide an economic stimulus now, when it is so needed; it moves the country in the wrong direction over the long-term; and it will adversely affect services upon which Americans depend while doing nothing to increase economic growth and jobs.