perfidy

The Post has given us an essential timeline on the Bush "tax cuts", the effects that were promised at the time, and what we've seen.

Bush and his "economic team" perform about as well as psychics at a county fair.

Before you raise the chorus of terrorism, war, and recession, keep in mind that these predictions were made after those things happened.

Here are some helpful mathematic elements for your consideration:

Today's debt as % of GDP : ~40%.
Historical high debt as % of GDP: ~50%.
Bush Debt as % of GDP: 6%/year.

Dick Cheney tells us that worldwide oil consumption is increasing at 3% a year, and reserves are decreasing by 2% a year. He should know.

Taxes lost to cheaters, every year: ~$300 Billion ($1000 for every man, woman and child in the country).

Odds of being audited if your income is less than 15k/year: 1 in 47.
Odds of being audited if your income is more than 100k/year: 1 in 66.

Amount stolen from working class people's social security fund to give tax cuts to the wealthiest, since 1983: $1.7 Trillion.

Ratio of Americans who pay more in social security taxes than they do in federal income taxes: 3/4.

Income rise in constant dollars since 1972, bottom 99%: 4%.
Income rise in constant dollars since 1972, top 1%: 500%.

Amount of income working class Americans can save, tax-free, per year: about $12,000.
Amount a public corporation officer can save, due to a loophole in the law: Unlimited, as deferred income.

Number of penalties assessed against American corporations for cheating on taxes in 1993: 2,400.
Number of penalties assessed against American corporations for cheating on taxes in 2002: 22.

Number of offshore credit cards issued to American citizens: somewhere between 1 and 2 million. Estimated tax cheating: around $70 Billion loss.

US trade deficit, 2003: $489 Billion.

Number of farms lost in the last 20 years to estate taxes: 0.

Purchase price of a data series from the IRS, so a concerned taxpayer can do his OWN analysis of the tax system: $3300, for one copied CD-ROM.