Republicans Offer Up Stimulus Alternative With Less Spending, More Tax Cuts

Interesting…

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Republicans on Tuesday offered their own, cheaper economic stimulus plans focused on tax cuts, pushing back against a nearly $900 billion Democratic plan they say encourages too much new spending.
As the Democratic-controlled Senate began thrashing out possible changes to the rescue package President Barack Obama has sought, Republicans indicated they may play hardball ahead of a vote that will require at least some Republican support.
“The American people are beginning to figure out what this package is, that it’s not a stimulus package — it’s a spending package,” said Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
Senators worked throughout the day to find a bipartisan deal. McCain and four other Republicans unveiled their ideas priced at $445 billion, half the cost of Democratic version which started the day at $885 billion.
It centered on cutting in half a 6.2 percent payroll tax on employees, cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent and lowering the bottom two income tax brackets to 10 percent and 5 percent, all for one year.

Of course, it’s not all tax cuts. There’s some infrastructure spending in there too (probably appropriate) and a bit of entitlement spending too:

McCain and Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Thune of South Dakota, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mel Martinez of Florida also proposed $11 billion to help prevent home foreclosures and $65 billion in state grants to build and repair bridges and roads.

The article puts the total price tag for the bill at $445 billion, but it’ll be interesting to learn how much of that figure is actual spending (like the $11 billion to prevent foreclosures and the $65 billion for roads and bridges) and how much is tax relief. I’m not sure America can afford even a porked-up “stimulus” bill that’s half the size of what Democrats want to do even if it comes with tax cuts attached.
But the cuts themselves are certainly palatable. Cutting payroll taxes makes it cheaper for businesses to higher employ people. Cutting corporate taxes gives businesses some breathing room during the down turn. And cutting income bracket rates, even if they are for the people who pay the least in taxes, will go a long way toward putting some money back in the pockets of citizens.
I’d like to see more. I’d like to see the corporate and payroll tax cuts made permanent. I’d like to see a rate reduction for all income tax brackets. But with Democrats in charge of Congress, and Obama in the White House, moderate and temporary tax relief with a bit of pork attached may be the best we can hope for.
I’d feel more comfortable if the names attached to this thing were different. You’ll never see “John McCain” or “Mel Martinez” chiseled in marble in the fiscal conservative hall of fame. But this proposal is one hell of a lot less ugly than what the Democrats came up with.