Word: surplus
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...avoid--he had no choice but to shoot back. And so Bush began exchanging fusillades with Gore, each claiming his plan would do more for middle-class people than the other guy's would, and each charging that the other would squander the nation's projected $4.6 trillion budget surplus (see chart). Gore asserted that his tax plan, which could cost up to $620 billion over 10 years, was more prudent and fair than Bush's, which would run $1.6 trillion over nine years. The Bush camp countered that Gore's plan would give no tax relief whatever to millions...
Before sorting through these competing claims, it's worth noting that both men are playing with funny money. Nobody knows for sure if the gaudy surplus projections will materialize. And there's legitimate debate about the usefulness of the Congressional Budget Office's fiscal predictions. "Most of the CBO's estimates are exaggerated," says fiscal hawk Robert Reischauer, a former CBO director who is now head of the Urban Institute. "The surplus is uncertain...
...Half the surplus will be needed for Social Security, and both candidates promise that money is off limits. And the projected $2.2 trillion that remains may turn out to be far less. For one thing, the CBO estimates do not account for the fact that many popular tax breaks now scheduled to expire will almost certainly be renewed. The projections also assume that discretionary spending, such as the defense and education budgets, will grow no faster than inflation. Judging from recent history, Congress is unlikely to show that kind of restraint. "At best, we have a small surplus, nothing like...
...suspend disbelief for a moment. Assuming the surplus does come through, what would the tax-cut plans really do for people? Bush says under his plan, a hard-working family earning $60,000 would be spared an additional $2,050 in taxes; under Gore's, he says, they would save nothing. But Gore points to an eerily similar-looking family and says just the opposite. So who's lying...
...Gore has not abandoned all his Democratic tendencies. He makes up for his smaller tax cut with gigantic spending proposals like a proposed increase in child health-care coverage and a prescription-drug benefit under Medicare. Ultimately, Gore would spend about as much of the surplus as Bush. The only difference would be where the money goes. Once either set of proposals was in place, it would be no easier to scale back Gore's prescription-drug entitlement than to reverse Bush's tax cut. Says Reischauer: "Why should today's policymakers dissipate tomorrow's possible surpluses...