This is not an editorial, or op ed piece. This is from the washington rag which claims there is no bias in their reporting......


New Tax Refunds to Arrive Within Weeks (ATTENTION GRABBING HEADLINE)






By JENNIFER LOVEN
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 28, 2003; 10:50 AM


WASHINGTON - President Bush's signature on tax-cutting legislation will within weeks start speeding refunds to parents and fattening paychecks and investor earnings.

Bush was to turn a 10-year, $350 billion package of tax rebates, lower rates, new breaks for businesses and investors and aid to states into law Wednesday at a ceremony in the White House's East Room.

The full-fanfare event for the third-largest tax cut in the nation's history comes a day after Bush - with no comment or ceremony - signed a bill allowing the federal government to borrow as much as $7.4 trillion.(HAD TO STICK THAT IN THERE, seeing how it is so relevent to the refund angle and all)

The $984 billion increase in the federal debt limit is the largest on record, and will go in part to help pay for the new tax cuts that the GOP-run Congress passed on close votes at Bush's behest. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MY REFUND??? OH YEAH, WE GOTTA BASH BUSH

"Today's action will strengthen our economy by providing tax relief to families, workers, seniors, small business owners and entrepreneurs," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday.

He said the Internal Revenue Service will begin posting new withholding tax tables on Wednesday so employers can begin leaving more money in workers' paychecks; child tax credits checks will begin arriving in mailboxes in July.

Democrats have sought to draw attention to the federal IOUs that have resumed piling up under Bush, and which are projected to balloon further with the new tax cuts. BASH BASH BASH

After running annual surpluses during the last four years of the Clinton administration, huge federal deficits have returned with no end in sight. This year's is expected to exceed $300 billion - a record in dollars, albeit not as a percentage of the national economy. REALLY GOTTA PRAISE CLINTON......EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOTHING OTHER THAN GET ELECTED AT THE RIGHT TIME IN THE CYCLE

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist countered that spending the money now will create a healthy economy that will help the nation eliminate shortfalls later on.

"I don't like the fact that we are having to borrow money today," Frist, R-Tenn., said on PBS' "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer." "But ... by giving individuals more money to spend and also creating more jobs in the economy, we will be able to grow that economy, which over time will make that deficit disappear."

Democrats also have criticized the package as a giveaway to the wealthy, stressing its cuts on taxes on capital gains and corporate dividends rather than its lower income tax rates and increases in the federal child credit. Frist dismissed that emphasis as "the old, worn-out, tired, class warfare issue."

As Bush traveled widely to sell his package, he portrayed the ailing economy as something he inherited, taking care to mention that the recession took place in 2001's first three quarters - the beginning of his presidency. That period of negative growth was then exacerbated by that fall's terrorist attacks and corporate corruption scandals, he often said.

The intent was to place the problems' creation outside the president's control, while positioning him to gain credit for trying to fix them.

But after a $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001, a $96 billion stimulus last fall and the new $350 billion package, it is widely agreed that Bush now has ownership of the economy for better or for worse.

Democrats hope the economy will help them score politically. They repeatedly highlight the job losses over Bush's term - 2.7 million private sector jobs. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Tuesday the new measure would create "more than one million jobs," but even that figure would amount to a net loss without other developments.

The bill accelerates several income tax cuts previously scheduled to take effect later in the decade, including rate cuts and the federal child credit; lowers taxes on many married couples; eases levies on investors; and allows bigger write-offs for small businesses.

Bush first forwarded his tax-cutting blueprint in January - a $726 billion tax cut that exposed divisions among Republicans and drew skepticism from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

The GOP-controlled Congress then scaled it back, with the House setting a $550 billion maximum and the Senate backing no more than $350 billion.