Ten Years Tomorrow

Ten years ago tomorrow, President George W. Bush signed into law the first of several tax cuts that drove the balanced budget he inherited deep into the red. Meanwhile, Republican politicians say we can't afford the Medicare our seniors paid for, yet they want to make the Bush tax cuts permanent -- which would double our budget deficit (click here to see what that means for your state).

CORE MESSAGE

Our leaders are supposed to be working for working Americans, not just their multi-millionaire donors.

Connect: Our leaders are supposed to be working for working Americans.  

Define them: Washington Republicans say we can't afford the Medicare our seniors paid for, but they're openly pushing for more budget-busting tax giveaways for their millionaire and corporate donors.

Discredit: They pretend to care about deficits, but their actions tell the real story: they fought for millionaire tax breaks that created record deficits and now they're pushing for trillions more.

Core values: It's time we had a tax code that's fair to people who work for a living. Let's stop giving special tax breaks to millionaires who don't need it and don't spend it and get to work creating good jobs and strengthening the middle class.

ATTACKS & RESPONSES

"The Bush tax cuts grew the economy and created millions of jobs." 

• The Bush tax cuts created record deficits and were followed by the slowest job growth since World War II.
• Americans' average income dropped during the Bush years, and now the richest 1% control 40% of our country's wealth.
• The middle class has always been the backbone of our country -- the working people who contribute to the creation of wealth should share in it.

"All Democrats do is raise taxes and spend money."

• Right now, taxes are the lowest they've been in more than 50 years.
• President Obama has signed 34 separate tax cuts for American families and small businesses.

"The last thing we need to do is raise taxes on job creators - we need to cut corporate tax rates to promote competition and fix our economy."

• With American families struggling, Republican politicians have some nerve making working families pay for tax giveaways for their corporate donors. That makes no sense, and Americans aren't buying it.
• Corporate profits are at an all-time high, but corporations are paying lower taxes than ever before - and some aren't paying any at all. America can't be prosperous if corporations are sitting on record profits, while millions of people sit idle in their homes.
• When Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton told millionaires and big corporations to pay their fair share, it led to millions of new jobs and economic growth.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Bush tax cuts have been the number one driver of our deficits, and making them permanent would nearly double our country's budget deficit.
• To date, the Bush tax cuts have added $2.6 trillion to our national debt -- more than twice the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
• The Bush tax cuts disproportionately benefit millionaires - more than half of the benefits go to the top 10% of Americans.
• The Bush tax cuts have Most Americans say the best way to reduce the deficit is to raise taxes on millionaires and eliminate giveaways for oil companies, but Republicans won't even put that on the table.
• In nearly 20 states, Americans are joining together on the 10^th anniversary of the Bush tax cuts to highlight the wrong priorities of politicians who want to give even more tax breaks to millionaires at the expense of hardworking Americans.
• Even though Americans' top priority is putting Americans back to work, Washington Republicans "jobs plan" is nothing more than a repackaging of the same failed policies - more tax giveaways for millionaires and corporations.
• Washington Republicans are relying on discredited and fringe economists to defend their budget.
• Nearly 60% of Americans oppose the Republican plan to destroy Medicare plan, nearly 90% of Americans want to increase or keep Medicare funding the same, and 75% want to preserve or increase funding for Medicaid.
• Americans trust President Obama and Democrats in Congress by a 15-point margin when it comes to rebuilding the middle class.

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working.  See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.