In a private meeting aboard Air Force One while flying across the country to a campaign appearance, without any fanfare or notice, George W. Bush signed into law another round of tax cuts for the rich and powerful, this time focusing on corporate titans. The measure is the most sweeping overhaul of corporate tax law since 1986.
The bill includes $136 billion in new tax breaks, most of them give-aways to corporations including military contractors General Dynamics and Northrup Grumman and some Houston companies that have re-incorporated in foreign tax havens.
Nevertheless, ever mindful of the fact that the election looms near, corporations aren't the only beneficiaries. Special consideration is also given to fishermen, bow and arrow hunters, native Alaskan whalers, importers of Chinese ceiling fans, and NASCAR race track owners. Tobacco farmers, however, must be a bit confused: although they'll get an accelerated payment under a crop buy-out program, the bill also gives the tobacco companies the ability to import unlimited amounts of uninspected cheap foreign grown tobacco.
To no one's surprise, as soon as Air Force One landed Bush immediately praised the new law as a "jobs creation act for manufacturers and small businesses" and noted that it is especially tailored to individual battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio.
In other news: The Bush administration announced that government spending for the year ended September 30 rose 6.2 per cent to $2.29 trillion, swamping income, which climbed only 5.5 per cent to $1.88 trillion, and that the 2004 Federal budget deficit had exploded to $413 billion an increase of 9.5 per cent over the previous year.
Bloomberg - Bush Signs $145 Billion Corporate Tax Cut, Tobacco Buy-out
Australia Financial Review - Bush posts record US budget deficit
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