Tom Harkin: “I got depressed reading the weekend newspapers. Here is one in the Business section of the Sunday Washington Post…”

“I got depressed reading the weekend newspapers. Here is one in the Business section of the Sunday Washington Post, apropos of what you are just talking about here, about whom this is benefitting. The headline: Some CEOs Would See a Windfall. They have a nice little 1040 Tax Code wrapped up as a nice package here. It says here: . . . some of the biggest potential winners under the Bush plan would be top executives at dividend-paying companies who own big blocks of their firm's shares. Walt Disney Co.'s Michael D. Eisner, for instance, owns about 14 million company shares, a spokesman said. Disney announced an annual dividend of 21 cents this month, which adds up to about $2.9 million for Eisner. Under the current tax code, assuming Eisner is in the highest personal income tax bracket, the Disney chairman and CEO would pay about $1.3 million in state and federal taxes on that amount, according to a tax expert at a major accounting firm. Under the Bush plan, he might pay nothing on that portion of his income. It went on. There were some other ones here that they mentioned. Sanford Weil, who owns 22.8 million shares, would save as much as $6.9 million in taxes.”