March 08,2000

Clinton/Gore Budget Spends 99% of Surplus

JCT Analysis Shows Administration's Tax ''Cut'' Barely Scratches the Surface


WASHINGTON -- Senate Finance Committee Chairman William V. Roth, Jr. (R DE) today urged the Clinton/Gore administration to go back to the drawing board on their FY 2001 budget.

Roth's comments came in response to the release of a Joint Committee on Taxation analysis showing that the Clinton/Gore budget has a net tax increase in FY 2001, no tax cut until FY 2003 (when the increased outlay component is subtracted from the tax cut tally) and just a $4.6 billion tax cut over the first five years, without even including the full impact of the Administration's proposed user fee increases. Over the same 5 year period, the government is estimated to receive $379 billion more in revenues than was spent last year. Furthermore, according to the President's latest budget, individual income tax receipts have doubled from 1992 to 2000 (from $476 billion in 1992 to $951.6 billion in 2000) and as a percentage of economic output (9.9 percent) are at the highest level in history.

"It is an insult to taxpayers that at a time when we have huge surpluses, this Administration can see fit to return only one percent of the surplus to them. We anticipate $379 billion in excess non-Social Security revenues during the next five years, and the Clinton/Gore administration has recommended a paltry $4.6 billion tax cut. That isn't a budget -- it's a money pit. I urge President Clinton and Vice President Gore to go back to the drawing board and develop a tax cut with the American taxpayer in mind," Roth stated.