Roanoke Times Editorial Lashes At Allen for His Tax Stance

Allen raises a taxing issue

The scary truth about taxes, cuts and debt. A huge bill awaits all but the very rich.
Sen. George Allen's latest campaign ad aims to frighten Virginians into thinking that Jim Webb will raise their taxes.

His reason: The Republicans' favorite boogeymen -- Sens. John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton -- support Webb, and they favor letting some of the Bush tax cuts expire; ergo, Webb will take $2,000 of hard-earned money away from the average Virginia family.

Scary, huh? Just not truthful.

First off, Webb actually favors lower taxes for middle-income families and veterans, and he intends to focus on closing loopholes in the corporate tax code that allow 46 of the Fortune 500 companies to pay no taxes.

But forget that for a moment and look at the really frightening facts.

According to the Citizens for Tax Justice, under the Allen-supported tax cuts:

n More than 35 percent of the cuts are enjoyed by the wealthiest 1 percent of Virginians, those earning an average $1.2 million a year.

n The poorest 60 percent of Virginians share in just 17.6 percent of the cuts.

Even so, that does give them a few hundred dollars in their pocket that they might wish to keep. Webb, according to Allen, would try to take if from them. After all, didn't Webb admit that the tax cuts are not sustainable with the U.S. spending $500 billion on the Iraq war? Yes. But here's the really scary part: He has good reason to fret.

The tax cuts are supported almost entirely by borrowing and have increased the national debt to the tune of $7,386 for every American, according the Citizens for Tax Justice.

All but Virginia's wealthiest (that elite 1 percent getting huge tax breaks) are suffering a net loss. They just aren't aware yet that the average family of four's share of the debt so far has sunk them $29,544 further into the hole.

Eventually the bill will come due. That's the frightening truth. And voters can thank George Allen for approving of this.

The only thing I have to add is -- can Hillary be a "boogeyman?"  Boogeywoman actually sounds very cool.

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