Washington -- As George W. Bush officially accepted the Republican nomination for president, he exhorted to voters to extend the current tax cuts maintaining his supply-side position that the measures had stimulated a sluggish economy.
The President told attendees at last week’s Republican National Convention in New York that the current economy was “very strong” because of the tax cuts enacted during his first term.
However, the Congressional Budget Office projected this year’s federal budget deficit to hit a record $422 billion, $46 billion ahead of last year but $56 billion less than the CBO estimated in March. The CBO also warned that extending the Bush tax cuts, coupled with prolonged conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan, could propel the national debt could accumulate to $2.3 trillion over the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, advocacy group Citizens For Tax Justice said that by 2010, some 52 percent of the total tax cuts would go to the richest 1 percent of taxpayers, whose average 2010 income will be $1.5 million. And of the estimated $234 billion in tax cuts scheduled for 2010, $121 billion will go just 1.4 million taxpayers.
