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Kerry, John

Bush Campaign's Curious Attack on Kerry's $1 Trillion Tax Gap

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

President Bush's campaign rolled out a new line of attack on Senator John Kerry, highlighting a $1 trillion "tax gap" in the Massachusetts senator's economic platform. The Bush campaign claims that Kerry's proposals will result in higher taxes on every American and are the wrong prescription for the economy. However, this attack is curious because it echoes the Bush campaign's own actions in 2000, where the governor proposed hundreds of billions of dollars for new programs without cutting any federal programs, all while proposing a $1.35 trillion tax-cut plan.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Bush campaign is accusing Kerry of proposing $1.7 trillion in new spending over the next 10 years, while also increasing taxes by about $650 million by rescinding the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
  • In 2000, Bush proposed a $1.35 trillion tax-cut plan, while simultaneously proposing hundreds of billions of dollars for new programs without cutting any federal programs.
  • The Bush campaign used a similar strategy in 2000, promising historic tax cuts and massive spending increases, which was a smart political strategy that appealed to conservatives and moderates.
  • The Bush campaign's economic platform was based on rosy economic predictions that evaporated in 2001, leading to the largest annual increases in discretionary spending since the Great Society programs of the Johnson administration in the late 1960s.
  • The result was a tax gap of more than $5 trillion in spending over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
  • The Kerry campaign has responded by pointing out that the Bush tax gap is actually bigger, with a $10 trillion difference between the projected surplus and the expected deficit.

Statistics:

  • $1.7 trillion: The amount of new spending proposed by Kerry over the next 10 years.
  • $650 million: The alleged increase in taxes by rescinding the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
  • $1.35 trillion: The amount of Bush's proposed tax-cut plan in 2000.
  • $5 trillion: The projected tax gap in spending over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
  • $5.6 trillion: The projected surplus under the Clinton administration.
  • $5.2 trillion: The expected deficit under the Bush administration.
  • $10 trillion: The difference between the projected surplus and the expected deficit.

Sources:

  • "Bush Campaign Rolls Out New Attack on Kerry's Economic Plan," by Jim Vandehei, The Washington Post, (no date)
  • "Bush's Budget Strategy 'Unsupported' By CBO," by Steven Kull, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, (no date)
  • "The Bush Tax Gap: A $10 Trillion Problem," by the Kerry Campaign, (no date)

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