WHEREAS:

President Bush's fiscal year 2005 federal budget plan underfunds vital domestic services including health care, education, public safety, first responders and transportation, and turns its back on America's children, seniors, veterans and working families; and

WHEREAS:

The Bush budget fails to create new jobs, invest in America's infrastructure or provide assistance to states and localities to reduce their large budget gaps and maintain services; and

WHEREAS:

The Bush budget proposes hundreds of billions in tax breaks to the richest one percent of Americans, including repeal of the estate tax, reduced taxes on capital gains and stock dividends and reduced taxes on the highest income brackets; and

WHEREAS:

The Bush budget threatens Social Security by diverting more than a trillion dollars from the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest in our nation; and

WHEREAS:

America's economic future is threatened by the Bush administration's tax and budget policies, which burden our children with enormous debts by creating unsustainable structural deficits that are the largest in U.S. history; and

WHEREAS:

The Bush budget imposes tight spending caps and creates new unfair rules to govern the federal budget process that encourage tax breaks for millionaires and large corporations at the same time they discourage funding for schools, health care, child care, veterans' health and low-income tax credits; and

WHEREAS:

The Bush administration has been responsible for the loss of nearly 2 million American jobs -- the first time that total U.S. jobs have shrunk under a President since the 1930's -- and under the Bush administration, America's unemployment rate has increased substantially, and yet Bush still lacks a credible plan to create new jobs.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME oppose any federal budget plan that underfunds vital domestic services, including health care, education, public safety, first responders, transportation and the needs of children, seniors, veterans and working families; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME oppose federal budget or tax policies that increase tax breaks to the richest taxpayers and large corporations, including Bush's proposals to make permanent the repeal of the estate tax, reduce taxes on capital gains and dividends, and reduce taxes on the highest income brackets; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will work to support federal budget policies that fully fund vital domestic services, including health care, meet the daily needs of working families, and deliver financial assistance to struggling states, cities, counties and school districts; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That the irresponsible tax reductions for the wealthiest Americans must be rescinded. The tax system should be reformed to increase the tax burdens for those most able to pay, while reducing the taxes for those least able to pay. Middle-class Americans, who currently bear the greatest obligations, must be relieved of some of this burden by a fair restructuring of the income tax system. Capital gains must be taxed at the same level as wages. The estate tax must be preserved. Corporations must also pay their share, and the many tax shelters and subsidies they receive must be reduced. In particular, offshore dummy corporations must be subject to the same tax obligations as in-country corporations. Incentives must be built into the tax system to keep jobs at home, and to punish corporations that send jobs overseas.

SUBMITTED BY:

International Executive Board

David Rader and Delegate
Juan Martinez, President
AFSCME Local 843, Council 28
Washington