Washington Pulse -- Following Your Money

WASHINGTON, D.C.--As we file our taxes, here's what taxpayers should know: Our federal checkbook is not being handled responsibly in Washington. Tax cuts have created huge deficits and while the very wealthy have benefited, that benefit has not trickled down. Basic public needs are being sacrificed and our children's future is being put at risk.

For starters, it's important to remember that in 2000 the federal government had a surplus of $236 billion. Now, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government is running a deficit of roughly $318 billion. That is, the federal government took in about $2.15 trillion and spent about $2.47 trillion in 2005.

This budget deficit was not caused by the attack on the World Trade Centers on 9/11, or by Hurricane Katrina. Roughly 50 percent of it has come from tax cuts, such as the elimination of the estate tax and the tax cuts on capital gains. Only 10 percent of the deficit can be attributed to the entitlement programs (food stamps, Head Start, Medicare, etc.) conservatives wail about. Tax cuts will cost $1.66 trillion, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. The costs of Katrina by comparison are $150 billion, and the war in Iraq (not including Afghanistan) will be $315 billion by Sept. 30, 2006. And, as the New York Times reports, the chief beneficiaries of the tax cuts on investments were the very wealthiest Americans -- those making more than $10 million a year.

With all the tax cuts on investments you'd think there would be an increase in investments. Not so. According to the Center for American Progress, since 2001 business investment has declined for nine consecutive quarters -- the longest losing streak since World War II. The tax cuts have not trickled down, they have made the rich richer even as the ranks of the poor have grown. Since President Bush took office there are 3.7 million more people living in poverty; 1.4 million of these are children.

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