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Al Sharpton on Tax Reform
Reverend; Civil Rights Activist; Democratic Candidate for President
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We've read Bush's lips-he lied, and hiked taxes
We're not talking tax cuts, we're talking tax shifts. What President Bush has offered and some are supporting, is to give us $300 at the end of the day, when we bring about an economy where interest rates go too high,
where mortgage lending can't happen for [middle-class] people. My two daughters are here tonight. Would I rather give them $300 that, if they buy a pair of sneakers apiece, the $300 is gone, or would I rather them be able to buy a home
and have interest rates where they can have a home mortgage? If you talk to the American people like that, they will understand the fallacy of that.
And that's not about reading lips, because we've read Bush's lips; they lied. He said that there are no tax cuts, yet he caused a shift where state tax, sale tax and property taxes went up. That's a tax hike where I come from.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Sep 25, 2003
Bush tax cuts make us victims of a war of mass distraction
We have just ended the military side of a war in Iraq, where we were told there were weapons of mass destruction. We have the victims of weapons of mass distraction,
because while they told us we were going at weapons in Iraq, they put through tax cuts that have given us record state deficits, and they want to balance those deficits on the back of municipal employees all over America. We need a war against that.
Source: AFSCME union debate in Iowa
May 17, 2003
Bush isn't cutting taxes, he's shifting taxes
We're saying that Bush is cutting taxes. He's shifting taxes, because when you have to pay more money for mass transit, when you have to pay more money for sales tax, that's a tax on working class people.
Taxes have gone up in New York. They increase the subway and the bus fare. Taxes have gone up all over this country, because it costs more money for sales tax. We are forcing the states to tax working class people while we cut the wealthy.
Source: AFSCME union debate in Iowa
May 17, 2003
Repealing tax cut isn't raising taxes; it's saving America
Q: You know what President Bush and Republicans are going to do. They're going to come out and say there they go again, Democrats are raising taxes again. And we just have one question, is there anyone on the stage willing to say,
willing to rule out raising taxes, as president, of any kind? SHARPTON: I think you've got to really distinguish between raising taxes and canceling the tax breaks that Mr. Bush has given.
Q: They'll say there's no difference.
SHARPTON: George Bush giving tax breaks is like Jim Jones giving Kool-Aid. It tastes good, but it'll kill you. In the long run it puts the entire nation in debt. It is mortgaging our grandchildren.
It will bring us to a $1 trillion-dollar debt that we cannot pay. [Repealing that] is not to raise tax, that is to stop a suicidal economic plan to this economy. Let's not get confused when we're talking about it.
Source: Democratic Debate in Columbia SC
May 3, 2003
Would repeal all Bush tax cuts
I would repeal all of President Bush's tax cuts. They are the major reason we have gone from a projected 10-year $5.6 trillion surplus to a projected $2.4 trillion deficit in two years under Bush.
I would invest the savings in job-creating programs such as education, health care and housing to stimulate the economy from the bottom up.
Source: Interview with TheState.com
May 2, 2003