U.S.: State of the Union address commentary

In last night's state of the union address, U.S. President Bush continued his war mongering rhetoric. But for now, I am going to focus on part of his "domestic agenda" — his proposed tax cuts. In his speech Bush states that it is not "fair" to tax dividends twice:

We should also strengthen the economy by treating investors equally in our tax laws. It's fair to tax a company's profits. It is not fair to again tax the shareholder on the same profits. To boost investor confidence, and to help the nearly 10 million seniors who receive dividend income, I ask you [Congress] to end the unfair double taxation of dividends.

Bush's use of the word "fair" is a rhetorical move to place his pro-business, pro-wealthy, tax policies on moral ground. It implies that the rate of taxation of corporations is a moral issue about what is right and wrong and not a political one. Of course there are moral considerations into how a society distributes its wealth and, when examined critically, Bush's attack on a progressive taxation system carries no moral authority. Instead of asking whether or not it is fair to tax corporate dividends, we should be asking whether or not it is fair that workers surplus value is appropriated by the owners of the means of production.

Related websites:

• Marxists Internet Archive
• An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory by Ernest Mandel

Related articles:

• Bush's one-sided class war (Socialist Worker, January 31, 2003)
• Excerpts from State of the Union speech regarding Growing the Economy & Creating Jobs (Whitehouse.gov, January 28, 2003)
• Bush Vows That He'll Disarm Iraq and Rebuild U.S. Economy (New York Times, January 29, 2003)