In an e-mail alert Friday, the RNC warned that "Democrats want to raise taxes on small businesses," chiding the opposition for failing to "understand that raising taxes on top individual income" harms entrepreneurs.
The communique listed statements made recently by top Democratic presidential contenders indicating they would either work to repeal GOP-led tax cuts or, at a minimum, raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
Against Democratic opposition, Bush and the GOP majority have passed a pair of historic tax cuts - the first in 2001 and the second earlier this year. In the latter, $40 billion worth of tax refunds were sent out over the summer. Some analysts and the White House have cited consumer spending of those refunds as being partly responsible for recent economic gains.
For their part, however, many of the top Democrats seeking to unseat Bush next year blame the tax cuts for creating, then ballooning, the federal deficit. Many have said they would like to see the cuts rolled back or eliminated for the wealthiest Americans.
Also, Democrats have blamed Bush for reversing what they say was the longest economic expansion in U.S. history under President Bill Clinton, citing the 2001 recession, higher unemployment and falling productivity as evidence.
"In just one year, President Bush and congressional Republicans have managed to undo eight years of hard work and fiscal discipline," one Democrat issue statement on the economy charges. "Bush's policies have already wiped out our hard-gained surpluses, returned the nation to deficit spending, put Social Security in danger and slowed down efforts to pay down the national debt."
Republicans, however, insist the best way to grow the economy is by taking less of what workers earn. They say that since the two tax cuts, unemployment has leveled off, then fallen, and consumer spending has driven new growth in the economy.
President Bush, in a bid to reverse criticism that he has paid too little attention to domestic issues, has begun focusing on improvements in the economy to prove his fiscal policies are working.
"Our economy has been through a lot. When I took office, the stock market had been declining for nine months and the economy was headed into a recession," Bush said Thursday during a speech in San Bernardino, Calif.
The president said that just as conditions were improving, the Sept. 11 attacks occurred and provided new economic - as well as security - challenges. Since then, Bush said, his economic policies - led by the pair of tax cuts - have salvaged the economy.
"We know how to create jobs for America. It starts when Americans have more take-home pay to spend, to save or invest, which causes the economy to grow, and therefore, someone is more likely to find a job," the president said. "So I twice led the Congress to pass historic tax relief for the American people. We wanted tax relief to be as broad and as fair as possible, so we reduced taxes on everyone who pays taxes."
The RNC communique acknowledges that Democratic presidential contenders have a different view, quoting former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean from an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press in June. "You got to get rid of the tax cuts, all of them," Dean said at the time.
Last month, after entering the race for the Democratic nomination, former NATO Supreme Commander Wesley Clark said he would "reduce the tax cuts Mr. Bush gave the richest households" and use the money to finance "three job-creating funds," according to the RNC statement. And Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was quoted as saying he would ask Congress to rescind the Bush tax cuts "for the wealthiest Americans..."
Bush said that despite the call by Democrats to change course, his economic policies offer the best choice.
"Just as our economy is coming around, some in Washington are saying now is the time to raise taxes," the president said Thursday. "I strongly disagree. A nation cannot tax its way to growth or job creation. Tax relief put this nation on the right path, and I intend to keep America on the path to prosperity."
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