"Today we are taking essential action to strengthen the American
economy.... We are
helping
workers who need more take-home pay. We're helping seniors who rely on dividends. We're
helping small business owners looking to grow and to create more new jobs. We're
helping
families with children who will receive immediate relief. By ensuring that Americans
have
more to spend, to save, and to invest, this [tax relief] legislation is adding fuel to
an
economic recovery. We have taken aggressive action to strengthen the foundation of our
economy so that every American who wants to work will be able to find a job."
Since last summer, the American economy has grown at the fastest rate
of any major industrialized nation.
America's economy has been growing at rates as fast as any in nearly 20
years.
Nearly 1.9 million
jobs have been created since August 2003. The unemployment rate today is below the average unemployment rate
of the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s.
From 2000 to 2003, productivity grew at the fastest three-year rate in more
than a half-century, raising the standard of living for all Americans.
The stock market regained more than $4 trillion in equity since its low in
mid-2002. In 2003 the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25 percent and the NASDAQ rose 50 percent.
Manufacturing activity expanded in September for the 16th consecutive
month.
Real after-tax incomes are up 11 percent since December 2000.
Interest rates reached their lowest levels in decades during the Bush
Administration.
Homeownership reached an all-time
high and mortgage rates reached their lowest level in decades.
During the Bush Administration, we have experienced one of the lowest core
inflation rates (averaging two percent per year) in the past 40 years.
Historic Tax Relief
President Bush, working closely with Congress, provided the largest
tax relief in a generation.
The President secured enactment of four major tax relief bills,
providing tax relief to every taxpayer who pays income tax while completely eliminating the income tax burden for nearly
five million families.
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In 2004, taxpayers will receive, on average, a tax cut of $1,586.
The marriage penalty for low and moderate income taxpayers has been reduced. In 2004, 49 million married couples will receive an average tax cut of $2,602.
The child tax credit has been doubled, increasing from $500 to $1,000. In 2004, 43 million families with children will receive an average tax cut of $2,090.
Twenty-five million small business owners will receive tax relief averaging $3,001. The President's tax relief also provides America 's businesses with incentives to invest in new equipment to make their workers more productive and to create new jobs.
President Bush, working with Congress, is phasing out the death tax.
Providing Job Training
President Bush proposed the
Jobs for the 21st Century initiative,
providing more than a half-billion dollars in funding for new education and job training initiatives.
The plan includes $250 million to fund partnerships between community colleges and employers to help
Americans prepare for the higher-skilled, higher-paying jobs of the new century, and $33 million for
expanded Pell Grants for low-income students
The Bush Administration proposed $23 billion for job training and
employment assistance in 2005.
The President proposed a $50 million Personal Reemployment Accounts
pilot program, allowing unemployed workers who have the hardest time finding jobs to choose the services they need to
return to work, including assistance with training, child care, and transportation costs.
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President Bush has supported extension of Federal unemployment
benefits three times, providing more than $23 billion to help almost eight million American workers.
President Bush proposed to reform major Federal job training programs to
double the number of people trained, and to ensure more people receive flexible Innovation Training Accounts which
allow workers to make choices about the skills they need.
President Bush's historic tax relief reduced marginal income tax rates
across-the-board, benefiting the more than 90 percent of small businesses
that pay taxes at individual income tax rates.
President Bush raised from $25,000 to $100,000 the amount that small
businesses
can expense for new capital investments, reducing the cost of purchasing new
machinery,
computers, trucks, and other qualified investments.
The number ofwomen-owned businesseshas continued to grow
at twice the rate of all United States businesses. Women are now the owners of 10.6 million businesses in the country, which generate $3.6 trillion in sales, and between 1997 and
2002, employment at majority-women-owned private companies increased by 30 percent.
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The Bush Administration proposed and supports Association Health Plans(AHPs) to help employees of small businesses afford health coverage.
The regulatory burden on small businesses has been reduced. Small business
owners have also been given a bigger voice on ways to improve regulations.
The Administration has implemented new regulations that help small
businesses compete for Federal procurement dollars and streamlined the appeals process
Promoting Minority Small Businesses
Business loans to minorities increased by 40 percent in 2003.
President Bush proposed a 21 percent increase for the Minority Business
Development
Agency, the largest increase in more than a decade.
President Bush has proposed the largest Federal research and
development budget in history.
President Bush proposed making permanent the research and
experimentation tax credit to promote private sector investment in new technologies and manufacturing
techniques.
The President created a new math and science partnership
program to improve teacher training and student learning. The President's 2005 budget meets his
commitment to fully fund his five-year, $1 billion goal.
The Bush Administration set a national goal of universal, affordable
access to broadband technology by the year 2007 - and it has opposed all efforts to tax access to
broadband.
Restraining Federal Spending and Improving Government Efficiency
President Bush brought the annual rate of growth in non-security
discretionary spending down from 15 percent in the last budget enacted during the Clinton Administration to a proposed
0.5 percent for next year.
The President's budget will put the country on a path toward cutting the
deficit in half from its peak over the next five years. And better progress is being made than anticipated just six
months ago. Rising revenues, spurred by a growing economy, are decreasing the deficit faster than anticipated.
The Bush Administration launched the President's Management Agenda
(PMA) to make the Federal government more results-oriented and accountable. For the first time, a majority of
agencies evaluate their employees based on how well they are performing relative to clear expectations. Departments and
agencies have assessed the performance of more than 600 programs, representing approximately $1.4 trillion in Federal
spending, And by working to eliminate more than $35 billion in improper payments and producing more timely and accurate
financial information, more Federal agencies than ever are being held accountable for spending the taxpayers' money
wisely.
The Bush Administration has achieved the biggest overhaul of the Federal
civil service system in a quarter-century and opened up hundreds of thousands of Federal jobs to competition. The
result is that government provides better results at lower costs to taxpayers.