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Report reveals hundreds of tax breaks for top U.S. companies; says McCain plan would create "no increase in jobs or overall economic growth"

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today joined Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), along with James Kvaal, Senior Fellow for the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF) in releasing a new report today that analyzes a number of Senator John McCain’s tax proposals.  The report shows that McCain's plan would double President Bush’s tax cuts by proposing an additional $175 billion a year in tax reductions and corporate tax breaks.  The new report also contains a breakdown of which of the Fortune 200 companies would receive billions of dollars of tax breaks under Senator McCain’s proposal. 

“We’ve already had eight years of fiscal policy that has turned record surpluses into record debt,” said Senator Casey.  “Our economic security can’t withstand four more years.”

“Senator McCain's tax plan is George Bush's fiscal policy on steroids; it makes an already grim economic situation worse. It does almost nothing to improve conditions for the middle class and focuses on improving the fortunes of the most profitable corporations in the country," said Senator Durbin.” 

“What our country needs is tax relief for the middle-class, not billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy,” said Senator Klobuchar.  “Families are being squeezed on all sides – by record gasoline prices, rising food costs, and soaring health insurance premiums. In the last eight years the average family has lost $5,500 per year to higher prices and lower incomes, and they are ready for a new direction.’’ 

“If budget-busting tax cuts for the rich were an Olympic sport, John McCain would be packing for Beijing,” said Kavaal, co-author of today’s report.  “Regular workers are struggling with stagnant wages and higher prices, but McCain wants $45 billion in corporate tax breaks for some of the most profitable corporations in America.”

The report, which was produced by the progressive think-tank the Center for American Progress Action Fund, points out the widening gap between Democratic economic priorities and those of Bush-McCain Republicans.  While Democrats are working to make the American Dream affordable again, Senator McCain has offered a fiscal plan that would create the largest federal deficits in 25 years and plunge the U.S. into the deepest debt since World War II.  According to the report, McCain’s policies would leave a national debt of $12.7 trillion by the end of a two-term presidency. Based on the Congressional Budget Office’s GDP estimates, this would total 59 percent of the projected GDP in 2017, the highest level of debt since 1951 when America was still paying off the costs of World War II.   

At today’s press conference, the Senators pointed out that Democrats are working to provide Americans with tax cuts for the middle-class, a second stimulus package, a plan to fix the foreclosure crisis, and a plan to address the rising cost of gas prices.

 

 

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