Tuesday, July 12, 2005

U.S. Budget Deficit Narrowing Quickly On Revenue Surge
BY JED GRAHAM

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

So much for record budget deficits. The tide of economic growth and surging
corporate and individual tax revenues are now expected to erase as much as
25% of the red ink the government was planning to expend this year.

Three-quarters of the way through fiscal 2005, the Congressional Budget
Office says the deficit will come in well shy of $350 billion and may fall
below $325 billion. The White House, which had forecast a record $427
deficit, will update its view Wednesday.

Some see the better-than-expected federal revenues as evidence that
President Bush's tax policy is working as advertised.

"This is exactly what the White House said would happen," said Heritage
Foundation budget expert Brian Riedl. "They said the tax cuts would
stimulate productivity, fuel economic growth and lead to smaller deficits."


Tax revenues through the first nine months of the fiscal year are up $204
billion, or 14.6%, from last year to $1.6 trillion, CBO estimated.

More than one-fourth of that improvement has come from corporate income tax
receipts, which are up $58 billion, or 40.8%, from a year ago.

Individual income taxes are up $105 billion, or 17.6%, from last year. The
payroll taxes that fund social insurance programs are up $34 billion, or 7%.

"It's a dramatic story," said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at
Stanford Washington Research Group. "Whether you believe in supply-side
theory or not, supply-side-tax-cutting advocates are going to be
emboldened."

Valliere now expects the president to reach two years early his "modest"
pledge of cutting the deficit in half as a share of GDP by 2009.

Bush made the commitment during his bid for re-election at a time the White
House was projecting a deficit of 4.5% of GDP, although the 2004 deficit
ended up to be $412 billion, or 3.6% of GDP. CBO figures suggest the 2005
deficit may slip below 3% of GDP.

For an administration that had to deflect attacks about being fiscally
irresponsible in Bush's first term, the turn in the deficit is welcome news,
and the stakes couldn't be any higher. Closing the deficit is critical to
the president's goal of making his first-term tax cuts permanent and
cementing his legacy as a tax cutter.

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Well what do you know! JFK was right when he said "it is a paradoxical
truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low - and
the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now."

Bush cut the tax rate, and tax revenues increased. Supply side economics
obviously works, and the Laffer Curve is an accurate model of what happens
when taxes are decreased. Hopefully the current data will put the
naysayer's argument to rest.

NOYB wrote:

Well what do you know! JFK was right when he said "it is a paradoxical
truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low - and
the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now."


I thought JFK was dead. I don't know how he would be able to comment on
the economy of 2005.

wrote in message
oups.com...


NOYB wrote:

Well what do you know! JFK was right when he said "it is a paradoxical
truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low -
and
the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now."


I thought JFK was dead. I don't know how he would be able to comment on
the economy of 2005.


You really are an idiot Kevin......and you prove it here daily.

"*JimH*" wrote in message
news

wrote in message
oups.com...


NOYB wrote:

Well what do you know! JFK was right when he said "it is a paradoxical
truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low -
and
the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates
now."


I thought JFK was dead. I don't know how he would be able to comment on
the economy of 2005.


You really are an idiot Kevin......and you prove it here daily.


Kevin is about due for another bitch slapping.

P. Fritz wrote:
"*JimH*" wrote in message
news

wrote in message
oups.com...


NOYB wrote:

Well what do you know! JFK was right when he said "it is a paradoxical
truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low -
and
the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates
now."


I thought JFK was dead. I don't know how he would be able to comment on
the economy of 2005.


You really are an idiot Kevin......and you prove it here daily.


Kevin is about due for another bitch slapping.

It wouldn't be from a little pussy boy like you.

*JimH* wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...


NOYB wrote:

Well what do you know! JFK was right when he said "it is a paradoxical
truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low -
and
the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now."


I thought JFK was dead. I don't know how he would be able to comment on
the economy of 2005.


You really are an idiot Kevin......and you prove it here daily.

So.....you think that it's prudent to apply what someone said about the
economy 40+ years ago concerning the economy? The economy of the U.S.
is nothing like it was then. Foreign trade, for one. Massive BushCo
debt for another. Hell, let's just use some FDR quotes to live by!

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has
never learned how to walk forward."

Theres one that I think still applies.

"A nation that destroys it's soils destroys itself. Forests are the
lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our
people."

That one still works.

"I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made."

It would be nice to do that with Bush!!

"If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human
relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live
together, in the same world at peace."

Uh, oh, THAT isn't something Bush and his followers want to hear!

"It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it
frankly and try another. But above all, try something."

Another thing Bush can't do.

"Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien
power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President
and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters
of this country."

Unless you're Bush.....

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance
of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who
have little."

Uh, oh, Bush and lemmings don't want to hear THAT!

"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and
independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of
which dictatorships are made."

Hmm, BushCo THINKS they are dictators!

wrote in message
oups.com...


NOYB wrote:

Well what do you know! JFK was right when he said "it is a paradoxical
truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low -
and
the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now."


I thought JFK was dead. I don't know how he would be able to comment on
the economy of 2005.


shakes head in disbelief

"NOYB" wrote in message
link.net...

wrote in message
oups.com...


NOYB wrote:

Well what do you know! JFK was right when he said "it is a paradoxical
truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low -
and
the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates
now."


I thought JFK was dead. I don't know how he would be able to comment on
the economy of 2005.


shakes head in disbelief


Disbelief? You should come to expect that out of our resident "King"

"P. Fritz" wrote in message
...

"NOYB" wrote in message
link.net...

wrote in message
oups.com...


NOYB wrote:

Well what do you know! JFK was right when he said "it is a
paradoxical
truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low -
and
the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates
now."


I thought JFK was dead. I don't know how he would be able to comment on
the economy of 2005.


shakes head in disbelief


Disbelief? You should come to expect that out of our resident "King"

" Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm
not sure about the former. "--Albert Einstein

wrote in message


I thought JFK was dead. I don't know how he ......

Not at all, bassy. He's alive and well and living with Elvis in a condo
just south of Newnan.