Bush urges Congress to make tax cuts permanent

Bush urges Congress to make tax cuts permanent

WASHINGTON - President Bush used the falling unemployment rate to claim that the tax cuts were responsible for this data and urged the Congress to make them permanent. America added 108,000 jobs in December bringing down the rate of unemployment from 5 percent in November to 4.9 percent in December.

Mr. Bush wasted no time in claiming credit for the same and wanted the Congress to loosen on the tax cuts. "The American economy heads into 2006 with a full head of steam," he told a gathering in Chicago."

By cutting taxes on income, we helped create jobs. To keep this economy growing, to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive, to make sure that the United States of America is the most productive nation in the world, the United States Congress must make the tax cuts permanent." Bush wants the Congress to extend these cuts to wages, capital gains, dividends and estate taxes.

His demand was echoed by Vice-President Dick Cheney in Kansas and his top economic advisors in New York and Pittsburgh. In his weekly radio address Bush said, "Just as we're seeing new evidence of how our tax cuts have created jobs and opportunity, some people in Washington are saying we need to raise your taxes." He added that members in the Congress also wanted him to repeal the tax cuts, but he would not allow that to happen.

"A growing economy requires secure and affordable sources of energy, free and fair trade, legal reform and regulatory reform and a health care system where workers can find affordable care," he added. He also spoke about education and said that Americans must get a good one so that "they will have the skills they need for the jobs of the 21st century."

But analysts disputed the President's claim that the tax cuts had spurred the economy, Narimen Behravesh, the chief economist at Global Insight said that the economy was up because of the housing boom, "We also had before this year the dollar coming down, which helped drive up exports," he said.