STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE ON PRESIDENT BUSH’S TAX CUT PLAN

New York, NY, March 1, 2001–National Urban League President Hugh B. Price finds that the centerpiece of President Bush’s proposed budget–a targeted tax cut plan which benefits the wealthiest one percent of Americans who get 43% of the proposed tax cut–remains patently unfair. The organization therefore strongly opposes the President’s tax cut proposal because it fails to pass the fundamental fairness test, and its extreme size would sabotage our constructive efforts to meet the human needs of our local community for years to come.

Families in the top one percent of the income distribution have already benefited tremendously from the expansion of the 1990s. Their incomes have risen so fast that despite the increase in marginal tax rates in 1993, the top one-percent now pays a lower share of their total income in taxes than in 1992. This contributes to the growing inequality between America\'s richest and poorest families.

The League therefore urges the President to consider the following suggestions:

• Make ensuring that low-income, working families see their after-tax income rise a priority and make the proposed child credit refundable.
• Extend the tax form simplification to low-income families.
• Correct the marriage penalty built into the EITC, not just for the middle class, but for low-income married couples who, in fact, have a much higher correlation between husband and wife earnings than do the families the President\\\'s proposed marriage penalty reform proposal addresses.
• Extend the benefit of the earned income tax credit to low-income families by raising the phase-out point for the EITC and lowering the marginal tax rate. And increase the number of children that parents can claim for EITC from two to three children.

The Urban League is the nation’s oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. The National Urban League, headquartered in New York City, spearheads the nonprofit, nonpartisan movement, while Urban League affiliates operate in more than 100 cities in 34 states and the District of Columbia.