Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001

Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 was the first of President George W. Bush's (R) radical tax cuts. Tax rates were lowered across the board, with the highest bracket being decreased 39.6 percent to 35 percent. The capital gains tax was lowered as well, from 10 percent to 8 percent. The bill also reduced the estate tax annually (while raising the amount of money that qualifies for estate tax coverage), until 2010 when it was repealed for one-year.

The law provided tax credits for education, created tax incentives for married couples and increased the Child Tax Credit from $500 to $1,000.

Cry Wolf Quotes

I hate to tell you, by Washington's definitions that [Melancon]'s using, virtually everybody in this audience is the wealthy.

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Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)

Well let's get into the old class warfare again. Let's get the rich…The American people want us to stop spending and so let's just give 'em some certainty and let's extend the tax...existing tax cuts.

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John McCain, Fox News.

The Obama Tax Plan Would Eliminate Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs Each Year….In other words, for Americans who are unemployed now, their prospects of employment would worsen under the Obama tax plan.

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The Heritage Foundation's study “Obama Tax Hikes: The Economic and Fiscal Effects".

[This is] a fight to allow businesses, taxpayers and private industry to keep more of their money so that they can provide real stimulus and lasting growth to the economy.

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House minority whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), Wall Street Journal.

Evidence