Xavier Becerra: “there is nothing wrong with tax cuts. Obviously, it is great if we can give the American people a tax cut. Two questions…”

“there is nothing wrong with tax cuts. Obviously, it is great if we can give the American people a tax cut. Two questions we have to ask, though, are: Is it being done equitably and can we afford to pay for the tax cuts, because somewhere we will have to pay for the loss in revenue. We have heard Speaker Newt Gingrich describe within the contract on America this tax-cut proposal as the crown jewel of the contract. It is a crown jewel all right, but the only problem is you only get the jewels if you are privileged enough in society and can afford them. The plan gives away billions of dollars in tax breaks and other goodies to corporations and the well-to-do, those groups, the only groups, in fact, that in the 1980's benefited from the trickle-down economics we experienced in that decade. If you do not belong to this group of corporations or well-to-do, the plan not only does not help but you have to pay for it as well. How will you pay? We have seen a little already. Who takes the hit? School lunch programs, student loan programs, student grant programs for colleges, summer youth employment programs, home heating assistance for seniors. There will be more middle-class programs cut and dismantled over the next several months to pay for these expensive tax cuts. The capital gains tax cut that we will see by itself benefits, for the most part, those that have incomes in the six-fugure range.”