Bush's sleights of hand.

• Position: Comment

George Bush's new tax law is one of the most brazen redistributions of income to the wealthy that this nation has ever seen. Bush sold it with unsurpassed gimmickry and the smarmy disregard for truth that so characterizes his Administration.

When he signed the Jobs and Growth Tax Reconciliation Act of 2003, Bush said, "Today, we are taking essential action to strengthen the American economy." But his tax plan threatens the long-term health of the economy. He talked about how his plan would help working people, families with children, and seniors, but he didn't state the obvious fact: that the rich would make out like bandits because of the reduction in the taxes on dividends and capital gains.

In the next four years, the top 1 percent of Americans--those making $337,000 a year or more--will get, on average, tax breaks worth $103,899, according to Citizens for Tax Justice.

The bottom 20 percent--those making under $16,000--will get all of $45 over the four-year period.

The next 20 percent--those between $16,000 and $28,000--will get a total of $299.

The next quintile--those between $28,000 and $45,000--will get $811.

This 60 percent of the population will get only 8.5 percent of the tax benefits, whereas the top 1 percent will reap 38.9 percent.

And this tax package will not help all Americans: More than one-third of U.S. households won't get any tax break whatsoever, and more than one-half of U.S. households will get less than $100, according to the Tax Policy Center. Households in the bottom 20 percent will get an average tax cut of $1, the group estimates.

Bush misled the American people by exploiting the word "average" when he described the benefits of his plan. "Ninety-one million taxpayers will receive, on average, a tax cut of $1,126," he said. But since averages throw in the benefits that the richest will receive with everyone else's, Bush's statistic is almost meaningless. Actually, "83 percent of households will get less than the average amount cited by the Administration," the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found.

Then there's Bush's claim to be helping single moms. Here's what he said: "Altogether, thirty-four million families with children, including six million single moms, will receive an average tax cut of $1,549." According to the center, "For single women with children, 58 percent will receive less than $100, and a majority will receive no benefit whatsoever from the package."

Only after Congress passed the bill did the full dimensions of its class bias become kown. "The final agreement is, in fact, tilted against lower income working families with children," says the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The bill "accelerates all of the child tax credit and marriage penalty relief provisions for...