ENDLESS OFFENSE

White House eyes annual tax cuts: GOP says it will push for new cuts every year Bush is in office
(Dana Milbank and Dan Balz, 5/11/03, THE WASHINGTON POST)

With the House’s passage of a $550 billion tax cut plan, Congress is moving toward the third tax reduction in as many years for President Bush--the same number passed in an entire generation before he came to office.

YET THE IMPRESSIVE trio of reductions is but a small step toward the administration’s goal: nonstop tax cuts.

White House officials have told allies they will attempt a new tax cut every year Bush remains in office, and there is already talk of another round. The ultimate target--overhauling the tax code and sharply reducing the size of the government--may never be achieved. But the incremental steps in that direction help to keep the Republican Party unified and the president in an unending debate with Democrats over the tax burden on Americans.

One thing this White House is brilliant at is taking a situation where the press and Democrats think they've put Mr. Bush on the defensive and just heaving the ball even further down the field. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 12, 2003 11:21 PM