Senator Harkin, Senator Grassley and Representative Boswell,

I am writing to you, my congressmen to express my thoughts on possible tax cuts. I am sending the same text of this message to Senator Grassley as well, but I can't seem to find an e-mail address for him - just a web form. I am a resident of Des Moines, IA.

I am never excited about paying taxes, but at the same time, I understand government needs money to perform it's services to the people of the United States. I am very concerned about President Bush's economic plan with regards to the potential tax cuts it presents. With the government deficit running high and possible war with Iraq looming (which would be very expensive), tax cuts do not make sense to me at this time. I am especially concerned about the nature of the tax cuts.

I am totally against the elimination of taxes on dividends. Fifty percent or more of Americans own stock (including me), but these are the wealthiest 50%. The majority of stock owned by those 50% is held by a small minority of people. This tax break will serve to make the wealthy even wealthier and do nothing to help the lower and lower middle classes. Furthermore, I do not believe it will help expand the economy.

Stock prices may rise in value as a result of the tax break, but that doesn't always lead to more jobs or increased expansion. Companies with stock on the markets aren't necessarily going to expand their production and operations just because their stock value goes up. Companies expanding based on stock prices are often short-lived like the dot-coms of the late 1990s. Companies are going to expand because there is increased demand for their products and services. Without demand, there is no need to produce more products. If we want to increase overall demand for products and services in the entire economy, we need to provide more money to people who purchase products and services. The less money a person has, the higher the percentage of that money s/he will spend on products and services.

If we want to pump $674 billion back into the economy over then next 10 years, than we need to be sure that $674 billion goes into the economy. If we give that money back to workers in the lowest income brackets, most of that money will be spent purchasing goods and services. When that $674 billion is spent on goods and services, demand goes way up resulting in higher profits for businesses of all sizes which leads to capital for investment and expansion of production which means more jobs. More profits mean higher dividends to stock owners so even the wealthy will benefit greatly. If we give that $674 billion primarily to the wealthiest, some of that money will be spent, but a significantly larger portion of it will be saved or invested in stocks raising the price of stocks, but doing nothing to increase demand for goods and services. The wealthy will get wealthier while those in lower income brackets will not benefit at all.

The elimination of taxes on stock dividends is really a progressive tax cut with increased benefit to those with the highest wealth. The more wealth a person has, the higher the benefit of this tax, because the wealthy are the ones who own most of the individually held stock.

I am asking you to vote against any measures resulting in decreased or elimination of taxes on dividends. I am also asking that if you vote for any tax cuts, that these cuts provide the most direct benefit to the lowest income wage earners. This will still provide benefit to the wealthiest Americans as the economy will expand and grow since low income people will have more money to spend. Corporations will realize higher profits and payout increased dividends resulting in more money for higher income persons.

Thank you for your time and consideration of my ideas.