To the Editor:

One of the first things the Bush administration accomplished when it took office was to implement sweeping tax cuts, mainly for the wealthy.

Their reasoning behind this is “trickle-down” economics ” the theory being that this money poured into the upper echelon of the economy would eventually trickle-down to the working class.

We have had seven years to see if this is working. So, what is the result?

For the period from 2000-2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median income for every income group except the highest 20 percent fell during that period.

That’s right. The bottom 20 percent lost 4.5 percent of their buying power during that period. The second tier lost 3.1 percent. The middle tier lost 2.5 percent. Those in the 4th tier lost 0.7 percent. These are the worst real income figures ever recorded over such a long period of time in history.

The only Americans who saw any improvement in their economic situation during the period from 2000-06 were the top 20 percent, who saw their real income increase 1 percent.

This may not seem like much, but if you consider that top 20 percent owns 50.5 percent of the income (the highest percentage since before the Great Depression), then 1 percent is a windfall.

So, it depends on your perspective. The tax cuts did work ” to make the wealthy wealthier, and everyone else (80 percent of us) poorer.

One of the main complaints your hear from conservatives about the Democratic agenda is that they want to “increase taxes,” which isn’t really true.

While they do propose small changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax, which hasn’t been updated to reflect economic changes and therefore unfairly catches middle-class workers who were not original targets of the tax, the main “increase” they propose is allowing the tax cuts implemented by the Bush administration to lapse.

It’s up to you to decide. Do you want to be taken in by pithy catchphrases designed to keep you in the dark, or will you look at what is truly happening, and take appropriate action?

Dena Jones

Fraser