For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Contact: Phoebe Silag or Karen Conner, news@epi.org 202-775-8810

The Bush tax cuts: ten years later, still expensive and ineffective

June 7 marks the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the first round of Bush tax cuts.  In a new Policy Memo, Tenth Anniversary of the Bush-Era Tax Cuts: A decade later, the Bush tax cuts remain expensive, ineffective, and unfair, EPI policy analysts Andrew Fieldhouse and Ethan Pollack provide a comprehensive look at the effect of the Bush tax cuts on the U.S. economy.  The Policy Memo is a resource that explains that the Bush tax cuts:

0. disproportionately benefited the wealthy;
0. did little for low-income families;
0. never trickled down;
0. were a poorly designed economic stimulus;
0. failed to create strong long-run growth;
0. were so expensive that they added greatly to the debt;
0. were much more expensive than advertised;
0. continue to be expensive;
0. eliminated the most progressive federal tax: taxes on large estates; and
0. are increasing interest spending today.