Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jun 16, 2007 14:21:58 GMT -6
Below are excerpts from an article by Joe Conason describing Ghouliani's supply-side tax mentality, and how he left a large deficit for the next mayor, Michael Bloomberg, to pay off.
Rudy's scary tax tales
"But the war in Iraq is increasingly unpopular, so lately Mr. Giuliani is talking more about supply-side economics -- and about Hillary Rodham Clinton, who irritates Republicans almost as much as taxes. During a campaign visit to California's Silicon Valley on May 30, he resorted to familiar right-wing rhetoric in attacking his old rival.
What prompted Mr. Giuliani to pounce was Senator Clinton's forthright declaration that she would, if elected, roll back some of the Bush administration's tax cuts for the richest Americans....
(I don't believe for a second that Clinton will roll back any tax cuts, especially those affecting her rich campaign contributors. But her talking point is at least worth noting here.)
Regarding Clinton's proposed high-end tax cut roll-backs, Ghouliani's continues with his voodoo economics propaganda:
""This would be an astounding, staggering tax increase," he said at a fund-raiser that included technology executives and lobbyists. "She wants to go back to the 1990's …. It would hurt our economy. It would hurt this area dramatically. That kind of tax increase would see a decline in your venture capital. It would see a decline in your ability to focus on new technology."...
(Ghouliani) might even recall that those years of peace and prosperity began with a bitter debate over taxes, when President Clinton was seeking to enact his first federal budget. Upon entering the Oval Office, Mr. Clinton found to his dismayed surprise that his "fiscally conservative" predecessor had left a $290 billion deficit. He responded by imposing substantial tax increases on the top 1 percent of taxpayers and omitting the "middle-class tax cut" he had promised in his campaign.
Predictably, the Republican right threw a screaming tantrum, falsely describing the tax increase as the "largest in history" (that honor actually belonged to Reagan) and warning that it would result in a severe recession or worse. Conservative politicians and pundits unanimously predicted that higher taxes would mean fewer jobs and larger deficits.
They were resoundingly wrong, of course. Within a few years after the '93 tax hike, we were enjoying full employment, shrinking poverty, rising household incomes at all levels, greater home ownership -- and the prospect of a gigantic federal surplus.
Now it is true that the biggest opportunities for Mr. Giuliani to enrich himself (and start worrying about the top tax rate) arrived in the years after he left office. As a security consultant, book author, investment rainmaker and corporate lawyer, he has reportedly earned many millions of dollars....
Under George W. Bush, another economic Reaganite who cut taxes for the wealthy, wages have stagnated along with family incomes, while the income gap has grown -- all thanks to the kind of policies advocated by Mr. Giuliani. He promoted those trends early on as Mayor, when privatization began to drive down wages among the city's lowest-paid workers, causing family incomes to drop and poverty to rise....
Out in Silicon Valley, he (Ghouliani) bragged about his economic record in office. "The way I paid for preparing the New York City budget was by lowering taxes. I was collecting billions of dollars more from the lower taxes than from the higher taxes," he claimed. "You can make money by lowering taxes."
That is exactly what Republicans love to hear: It's their version of a free lunch. He forgot to mention what happened later, however. When he departed City Hall, he left on his desk a gaping deficit of nearly $4 billion -- and Mayor Michael Bloomberg had no choice but to raise taxes...."
The full article can be found at:
www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=22400
Rudy's scary tax tales
"But the war in Iraq is increasingly unpopular, so lately Mr. Giuliani is talking more about supply-side economics -- and about Hillary Rodham Clinton, who irritates Republicans almost as much as taxes. During a campaign visit to California's Silicon Valley on May 30, he resorted to familiar right-wing rhetoric in attacking his old rival.
What prompted Mr. Giuliani to pounce was Senator Clinton's forthright declaration that she would, if elected, roll back some of the Bush administration's tax cuts for the richest Americans....
(I don't believe for a second that Clinton will roll back any tax cuts, especially those affecting her rich campaign contributors. But her talking point is at least worth noting here.)
Regarding Clinton's proposed high-end tax cut roll-backs, Ghouliani's continues with his voodoo economics propaganda:
""This would be an astounding, staggering tax increase," he said at a fund-raiser that included technology executives and lobbyists. "She wants to go back to the 1990's …. It would hurt our economy. It would hurt this area dramatically. That kind of tax increase would see a decline in your venture capital. It would see a decline in your ability to focus on new technology."...
(Ghouliani) might even recall that those years of peace and prosperity began with a bitter debate over taxes, when President Clinton was seeking to enact his first federal budget. Upon entering the Oval Office, Mr. Clinton found to his dismayed surprise that his "fiscally conservative" predecessor had left a $290 billion deficit. He responded by imposing substantial tax increases on the top 1 percent of taxpayers and omitting the "middle-class tax cut" he had promised in his campaign.
Predictably, the Republican right threw a screaming tantrum, falsely describing the tax increase as the "largest in history" (that honor actually belonged to Reagan) and warning that it would result in a severe recession or worse. Conservative politicians and pundits unanimously predicted that higher taxes would mean fewer jobs and larger deficits.
They were resoundingly wrong, of course. Within a few years after the '93 tax hike, we were enjoying full employment, shrinking poverty, rising household incomes at all levels, greater home ownership -- and the prospect of a gigantic federal surplus.
Now it is true that the biggest opportunities for Mr. Giuliani to enrich himself (and start worrying about the top tax rate) arrived in the years after he left office. As a security consultant, book author, investment rainmaker and corporate lawyer, he has reportedly earned many millions of dollars....
Under George W. Bush, another economic Reaganite who cut taxes for the wealthy, wages have stagnated along with family incomes, while the income gap has grown -- all thanks to the kind of policies advocated by Mr. Giuliani. He promoted those trends early on as Mayor, when privatization began to drive down wages among the city's lowest-paid workers, causing family incomes to drop and poverty to rise....
Out in Silicon Valley, he (Ghouliani) bragged about his economic record in office. "The way I paid for preparing the New York City budget was by lowering taxes. I was collecting billions of dollars more from the lower taxes than from the higher taxes," he claimed. "You can make money by lowering taxes."
That is exactly what Republicans love to hear: It's their version of a free lunch. He forgot to mention what happened later, however. When he departed City Hall, he left on his desk a gaping deficit of nearly $4 billion -- and Mayor Michael Bloomberg had no choice but to raise taxes...."
The full article can be found at:
www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=22400