Where I Stand—Brian Greenspun: Getting the tax shaft

Thursday, July 26, 2001 | 9:54 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

I AM SORRY.

I have always been told that it takes a big person to apologize. Well, I am that person because I have wronged and been wrong about our president, George W. Bush, and all of those people who supported his steadfast effort to pass a huge tax cut for millions of Americans.

Most Sun readers will recall that I opposed the tax cut that President Bush was pushing because, even though it returned many thousands of dollars to me and mine, I thought that money would be better served going back into the pockets of middle-income Americans who, regardless of the good times continuing to roll along, still struggle to make all their ends meet.

Not only were we assured that there would be plenty of money for a $1.3 trillion tax cut but that there would also be plenty left over to save Social Security, Medicare and the world as we know it. Since then, of course, we have learned that the rosy picture painted for public consumption was more thorns than flowers. But the cutters insisted that taxpayers get the breaks they deserved.

It became all too obvious that the head of steam that rolled the tax cut through Congress, and over the shouts of fiscal irresponsibility by the few of us who thought about the consequences, was far too great and far too powerful to be stopped by logic.

The result has been a much ballyhooed reduction in the amounts of tax we all pay. In fact, every taxpayer was supposed to get $300 back. I long ago determined that the Las Vegas Sun Summer Camp Fund would get my refund check so that a child can experience a week in the mountains rather than another seven days on the hot summer streets of Las Vegas. I would urge other Las Vegans to do the same.

But I digress. I was talking about an apology.

By the time the Congress passed into law President Bush's Economic Growth and Tax Reconciliation Act of 2001, every American taxpayer had been convinced that the three hundred bucks was just around the corner. For middle-income taxpayers who needed the extra cash for rent payments, car payments or some extra clothes for the kids, the checks couldn't arrive soon enough. For those who didn't need the money, it became the gesture that counted -- better me than thee, so to speak.

Regardless of the circumstances, there was no question but that middle American taxpayers were going to get a long-deserved break. And that, in itself, was not a bad result.

Since I haven't received my rebate check yet, I searched out what I consider to be the exact American family that President Bush was thinking about when he sold us on his idea. I wanted to see what they were going to do with the extra dough.

Here's what I found. A family of four -- Dad, Mom and two small children. Dad, who is early 30s, works full time for very good wages. He makes close to $60,000 a year. Mom has her hands full with the kids and stays home to care for them. Maybe they aren't exactly typical but they are close enough to call them middle-class taxpayers. Wouldn't you agree?

In a brilliant stroke of public relations genius, the president's people found a way for him to take the credit he deserves for the tax cut. The salient part of the letter from the IRS reads: "Notice of Status and Amount of Immediate Tax Relief "

"Dear Taxpayer:

"We are pleased to inform you that the United States Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, which provides long-term tax relief for all Americans who pay income taxes.

"The new tax law provides immediate tax relief in 2001 and long-term tax relief for the years to come.

"As part of the immediate tax relief, you will be receiving a check in the amount of $1.00 during the week of 07/30/2001."

The letter goes on to describe the calculations used but I think you get the picture. Those middle-income taxpayers certainly did!

The first question that comes to mind is how much do you have to make to get the entire $300? The second question was how am I going to ask for a donation to the Camp Fund? The very obvious third question is, "What kind of joke is this?"

But that is a very cynical view of President Bush's tax cut. Just because the check is going to be $299 short of the promised $300, that is no reason to think about words like sham and hoax and flimflam when trying to describe your thoughts to your middle American friends.

Rather than look at the negatives, consider the positives. This is where a visual of the late, great comedian Jack Benny comes in handy: "I'm thinking, I'm thinking."

OK, so there is nothing positive or even funny about Middle America getting shafted by our government. But, don't you think we deserve it for letting ourselves get duped by a smooth public relations campaign?

Did I say us? I am sorry, I meant them because there is no doubt I will get the full 300 buckaroos. That's why I want to apologize to the president. He told us that deserving taxpayers would get their $300 back, and I didn't believe him.

And now I'm getting mine, and that fellow with two small children, a wife, a job and a mortgage is getting the shaft. I owe the president an apology.

He, on the other hand, owes Middle America a much bigger one.