Bush's Good News Deficit Continues in the Times
Posted by: Clay Waters
7/10/2006 1:09:35 PM
At first, Sunday’s lead story by economics reporter Edmund Andrews seems like a welcome surprise -- a front-page trumpeting of good news from the Bush administration: "Surprising Jump In Tax Revenues Curbs U.S. Deficit -- Tops '05 By $250 Billion."
But once you get to the subhead ("Windfall Viewed as Little Help for Long-Term Budget Problems") -- you realize that it’s just another "glass half-full" story.
“An unexpectedly steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected budget deficit this year, even though spending has climbed sharply because of the war in Iraq and the cost of hurricane relief.”
“On Tuesday, White House officials are expected to announce that the tax receipts will be about $250 billion above last year's levels and that the deficit will be about $100 billion less than what they projected six months ago. The rising tide in tax payments has been building for months, but the increased scale is surprising even seasoned budget analysts and making it easier for both the administration and Congress to finesse the big run-up in spending over the past year.
“Tax revenues are climbing twice as fast as the administration predicted in February, so fast that the budget deficit could actually decline this year.
“The main reason is a big spike in corporate tax receipts, which have nearly tripled since 2003, as well as what appears to be a big increase in individual taxes on stock market profits and executive bonuses.”
But Andrews throws cold water on things by citing “independent budget analysts” that, as usual, mysteriously side with the Democrats every time: “Democrats and many independent budget analysts note that overall revenues have barely climbed back to the levels reached in 2000, and that the government has spent trillions of dollars from Social Security surpluses just as the first of the nation's baby boomers are nearing retirement.”
Of course, the Times was dead-set against Bush’s attempt at Social Security reform.
Powerline has more of the paper’s bad news emphasis in an entertaining post titled “Eeyore Covers the Budget.”
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