Ease the Tax Burden for the Rich, Increase it for the Kids?

Republicans fancy themselves as reliable tax cutters, and they are, but for whom? Last week President Bush signed the $69 billion tax cut bill that favors the investor class and the rich. As you will recall, this bill passed the House with the help of Mark Green and the rest of the Wisconsin Republicans in Congress.

We have previously posted that the obvious demographic that will gain from this bill is the very wealthy. This weekend we learned that there is also a group that will get hit particularly hard from this bill. The powerful interest group that is getting the shaft? Teenagers trying to save for college. The following from the New York Times Story this weekend:

The $69 billion tax cut bill that President Bush signed this week tripled tax rates for teenagers with college savings funds, despite Mr. Bush's 1999 pledge to veto any tax increase.

Under the new law, teenagers age 14 to 17 with investment income will now be taxed at the same rate as their parents, not at their own rates. Long-term capital gains and dividends that had been taxed at 5 percent will now be taxed at 15 percent. Interest that had been taxed at 10 percent will now be taxed at as much as 35 percent.

Only in the current upside down world that is the Republican run government do we favor the Haves over the Have-Nots. Apparently George Bush, Mark Green, and the boys are content in easing the tax burden on the super rich and powerful while at the same time increasing it on those that are barely getting started in life.