Earl Blumenauer: “nothing spells out the political cynicism and misplaced Republican priorities better than the tax bill we are about to…”

“nothing spells out the political cynicism and misplaced Republican priorities better than the tax bill we are about to vote upon. More assistance to the people in the top one-tenth of a percent whose burden has actually fallen 25 percent since Bush took office, the over-million-dollar crowd will get an additional $40,000 a year for the next 10 years. But the Republican leadership and the Bush administration is playing Russian roulette with the alternative minimum tax and the 15.3 million families whose only sin is to pay taxes, pay their mortgage and raise their families. Every year more of them fall into a trap, and each year the Republican leadership fails to make a long-term fix a priority. They would rather play politics with the favored few. This misguided priority is shameful, as Medicare and Medicaid deficits widen and the national debt increases. The alternative minimum tax, the AMT, has become an ATM to finance more tax cuts for people who need it least and put at risk 33 million American families who will fall into the AMT tax trap by 2010 when the house of cards comes crashing down. ____________________”