Text 3004, 158 rader
Skriven 2006-07-11 23:34:38 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0607118) for Tue, 2006 Jul 11
====================================================
===========================================================================
Setting the Record Straight: The President's Policies Are Increasing Tax
Revenues and Growing Our Economy
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
July 11, 2006

Setting the Record Straight: The President's Policies Are Increasing Tax
Revenues and Growing Our Economy


˙˙˙˙˙ Setting the Record Straight

The New York Times: "Earlier This Year, The Administration Conveniently
Projected A Highly Inflated Deficit Of $423 Billion."(Editorial, "Another
Mission 'Accomplished,'"The New York Times, 7/11/06)

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow: "In other words, the thesis of these
skeptics is that the Administration is going to put out a forecast that's
going to make us look bad for six months so we can get one day's good
publicity?˙ That's insane.˙ I mean, that's politically insane. _ If you're
looking for a time when you want to get a hit, the summer vacation season
is probably not prime time for trying to win the big political points."˙
(Tony Snow, Press Gaggle, Washington, DC, 7/11/06)

In 11 Of The Past 15 Years, Revenue Forecasts Have Increased From February
To The End-Of-Year Actual Figures, Leading To Reductions In The Deficit.˙

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) And Other Forecasters Also
Under-Estimated Revenue Growth.˙CBO initially estimated receipts would grow
by 7 percent.˙ However, in their most recent monthly report, they
acknowledged that receipt growth has been much stronger: "Revenues continue
to grow strongly, up by about 13 percent over receipts at the same time
last year."˙ ("Monthly Budget Review," Congressional Budget Office, 7/7/06)

In Previous Years, The Administration Was Criticized For Overly Optimistic
Projections.˙The Washington Post: "Over three years, the administration has
repeatedly and significantly overstated the government's fiscal health and
the number of jobs the economy would create, but economists and politicians
disagree about why. _ But in February 2002  after the recession was
declared, the terrorist attacks had occurred and war had begun in
Afghanistan  the administration continued to have upbeat predictions.
Although it forecast a $106 billion deficit in 2002, it saw the deficit
shrinking to $80 billion in 2003, $14 billion in 2004, and becoming a
surplus of $61 billion in 2005. Those figures, too, quickly became seen as
overly optimistic, as tax receipts continued to come in lower than
expected."(Dana Milbank, "White House Forecasts Often Miss The Mark,"The
Washington Post, 2/24/04)

The New York Times: Additional Tax Revenue Is Still Less Than Projected In
2001.˙ "In fact, [revenue] is $100 billion less than the $2.5 trillion
revenue estimate the administration touted when it set out in 2001 to sell
its policy of never-ending tax cuts."˙ (Editorial, "Another Mission
'Accomplished,'"The New York Times, 7/11/06)

Stock Market Decline, Recession, And War Contributed To Decreased
Revenue.˙The 9/11 attacks and War on Terror, as well as the collapse of the
stock market bubble, 2001 recession, and corporate scandals, caused
revenues to decline in 2001, 2002, and 2003.˙With recent economic growth
sparked by the President's tax cuts, tax revenue is growing at double-digit
rates (receipts grew by $274 billion or 14.5 percent last year and are
projected to grow by $247 billion or 11.4% this year).

Tax Revenue As A Share of Gross Domestic Product Is Projected To Exceed The
Historical Average.˙Federal revenues as a percentage of GDP are now
expected to reach 18.3 percent in 2006, above the 40-year historical
average of 18.2 percent.

The New York Times: Revenue Increases Are The Result Of Growing Income
Inequality.˙ "A growing number of economists, most prominently from the
Congressional Budget Office, point out that upsurges in revenue are also
the result of growing income inequality in the United States, an
observation that is consistent with mounting evidence of a rapidly widening
gap between the rich and everyone else.˙ As corporations and high-income
Americans claim ever more of the economic pie, revenues rise, even if
there_s no increase in overall economic growth."˙ (Editorial, "Another
Mission 'Accomplished,'"The New York Times, 7/11/06)

There Has Been An Increase In Overall Economic Growth  Real GDP Grew At An
Annual Rate Of 5.6 Percent For The First Quarter Of This Year. ˙ This is
the fastest growth in two-and-a-half years and even stronger than previous
estimates.˙ It follows economic growth of 3.5 percent in 2005  the fastest
rate of any major industrialized nation.

More Than 5.4 Million Jobs Have Been Created Since August 2003  Including
121,000 Jobs Created In June.˙ The economy has created about 1.85 million
jobs over the past 12 months and the unemployment rate is 4.6 percent 
lower than the average of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.˙

By Several Measures, The Long-Run Growth In Inequality Has Slowed In Recent
Years. ˙ For example, the Gini measure of overall inequality in household
income was flat from 2001-2004, but increased by 2.7 percent from 1995 to
2000.˙˙ Similarly, the share of income going to the top 5 percent of
households fell 2.7 percent over 2001 to 2004, but increased by 5.2 percent
from 1995 to 2000.˙

New Jobs Are Being Added In High-Compensation Occupations.˙ The average
compensation in growing occupations is $30.14 per hour, compared with
$21.24 in shrinking ones.

Income Inequality Is A Long-Term Trend Largely Due To The Economy Placing
Increasing Value On Education And Skills.˙ For the last 25 years, the
reward to investing in skills has grown: workers who get more training or
more education are seeing their wages rise.˙ As a result, there have been
greater income gains for more-skilled workers.

President Bush's Tax Cuts Have Made The Tax Code More Progressive.˙ The
share of taxes paid by the top 5 percent of taxpayers will be 53.3 percent,
and would have been 51.6 percent without the cuts. The share of taxes paid
by the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers will be 3.4 percent, and would have
been 4.0 percent without the cuts.

Los Angeles Times: Focus On The Mid-Session Review Distracts Attention From
The Long-Term Deficit.˙ "And the focus on this year's budget will distract
attention from the real budget crisis, which will begin in two years as the
eldest of the baby boom generation become eligible for Social Security
benefits.'"˙ (Joel Havemann, "Deficit's Good News Less Than Meets The
Eye,"Los Angeles Times, 7/11/06)

The Mid-Session Review Highlights The Unsustainable Growth In Entitlement
Spending And Restates The President's Call For Entitlement Reform.˙THE
MID-SESSION REVIEW:"As the President noted in his 2007 Budget released in
February, in the long term the biggest challenge to the Nation_s fiscal
outlook comes from the unsustainable growth in entitlement spending. As
currently structured, entitlement spending in Social Security, Medicare,
and Medicaid is growing faster than the economy and the Nation_s ability to
pay for this spending. _ The reforms in Medicare proposed in the
President_s Budget will bring the program_s financing needs more in line
with available resources in the near term, but both Medicare and Medicaid
need additional reforms to ensure their long-term health. In addition, the
President has called for reforming Social Security in a manner that
preserves benefits for those already in or near retirement and puts the
program_s finances on a sustainable footing for future generations."˙
("Fiscal Year 2007 Mid-Session Review," White House Office Of Management
And Budget, 7/11/06)

The President Has Persistently Called For Bipartisan Legislative Action To
Address The Long-Range Financial Shortfalls Of Entitlement Programs And Is
Firmly Dedicated To Reining-In Runaway Entitlement Spending:
  ū The President proposed slowing the growth of Medicaid and Medicare
    spending in his FY2006 Budget;
  ū Congress passed the Deficit Reduction Act which the President signed
    into law in February, saving almost $40 billion over the next five
    years;
  ū The President followed up with proposals in his FY2007 Budget to slow
    the growth of entitlement programs, including Medicare, by $65 billion
    over five years; and
  ū The President will continue to work with Congress on entitlement
    reform, including reforming Social Security to preserve and strengthen
    it for future generations of Americans.

# # #
===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060711-8.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)