Jan.- Met w/Senior Democrats to discuss his tax reform plan.

Feb.- Used the media to outline his bill to the people.

Presidents Proposed $1.6 Trillion Tax Cuts (over 10 yrs.) at a Glance

Child Credit: Increase from $500 to $1000 by 2006.

Raise the Adjusted Gross Income for married couples filing jointly from $110,000 to $200,000. 

Marriage Penalty: Allow 10% deduction for two-income families up to $6000 of the lower earning spouse's income; income gap would rise to $30,000 by 2006.

R&D Credit: Make permanent tax credit for business research and development.

Tax Rates: Lower, simplify income tax rates; current rates range from 15% to 39.6%; new rates range from 10% to 33%.

Estate Tax: Repeal gradually over eight years.

Charity: Allow those who do not itemize to deduct charitable contributions.

Other: Raise cap on corporate charitable contributions. Raise amount that can be contributed to an education IRA. Allow those 55 and older to make penalty free IRA withdrawals for charitable gifts.

Feb. 8 - Pres. Bush sent his proposed Tax Plan to Congress.

Feb. 16 - TROUBLE! - Moderate Republican Law makers are breaking ranks, coming out against the size of the proposed tax reduction. They say it is too skewed to the wealthy, and leaves too little margin for error if projected surpluses do not become reality. Democrats are proposing their own plan. It would cut $750 Billion, reserving a larger share of budget surplus for additional spending and debt reduction.

Mar. 9 - The tax bill easily passed a vote by the House of Representatives, it now moves to the Senate where it is expected to run into serious trouble. 

Mar. 27 - Pres. Bush has joined a bipartisan group to provide an immediate 60 billion dollar tax cut to stimulate the economy. Such a cut could come as early as this summer.

Apr. 7 - The Senate lowered Pres. Bush's proposed tax cut to 1.2 Trillion from 1.6 Trillion. They also voted for an immediate 85 Billion Dollar tax rebate for this year.

Apr. 25 - President Bush said Wednesday he's ready to compromise on his $1.6 trillion, 10-year year tax cut. ''I'm a practical man. I want to get it done,'' he said. After his sitting down to his second huddle in as many days with congressional budget negotiators, the president said in an interview with The Associated Press that he recognizes his tax plan will have to be trimmed in order to pass the House and Senate. ''It's going to be less than $1.6 (trillion) and greater than 1.2 and we've got to figure out how to make it work,'' Bush said. ''The definition of reasonable is: who will vote for it at this point in time? We're now down to counting votes.''

May 9 - The House approved a resolution that all but guarantees Congress will pass a $1.35 trillion tax cut later this year. The Senate is expected to follow suit on May 10th.

May 10 - The Senate approved the Budget!

May 26 - Republicans and moderate Democrats drove a sweeping $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut through Congress on Saturday, fulfilling President Bush's premier legislative goal in a bittersweet week that also saw his party lose Senate control. They also voted to send rebates to taxpayers this Summer and Fall to boost the sagging economy.

Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002 Thomas and Ann Pickett