Democrats Fear ‘Feeding Frenzy’ as Bush Pushes Tax Cuts

Fending off critics, President Bush insisted Wednesday that he can do it all: give every American a tax cut while implementing social programs, preserving Social Security and paying down the national debt.

Democrats on Capitol Hill will seek to put the brakes on what they fear will be a tax-cutting “feeding frenzy” today when Bush sends his proposal to Capitol Hill. Republicans pressed for broader cuts.

Bush convened 21 “tax families” who served during his campaign as symbols of those who would benefit from his 10-year, $1.6-trillion tax reduction proposal.

Many of those gathered at the White House were working-class families, including several single mothers.

Bush, trying to counter Democratic charges that his tax cuts would be a boon for the rich, cast the reductions and simplifications as boosts to the middle class.

“It’s as if our nation had erected a toll booth right in the middle of the road to the middle class,” Bush said.

“And so, we’re going to start dismantling that toll booth, brick by brick,” he said. “It begins by simplifying the code.” Bush would pare the current five tax brackets to four.

He would also cut taxes from today’s rates of 15% to 39.6% to between 10% and 33%.

The president also would expand child credits, ease the so-called marriage penalty and gradually repeal estate taxes.

To critics who have charged that the wealthy benefit disproportionately, he said it is “fair that everybody who pays taxes should receive relief, and that’s why we drop all rates.”

Others have said that projected federal budget surpluses should pay down the $3.4 trillion of the national debt held by the public.

Bush acknowledged the argument and said his plan “pays down debt.”

Some lawmakers have begun to protest Bush’s push for tax cuts before they see a comprehensive budget.

“We’re on the verge of starting a feeding frenzy in the absence of any real numbers,” said Mike Siegel, a spokesman for Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.