BOND BACKING TAX-CUT PROPOSAL

U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond isn't ready to stage a Boston Tea Party, but he thinks it's time Congress backs President George W. Bush and cuts taxes.

"Our expected government surplus, meaning excess tax receipts, over the next 10 years will top $5.6 trillion," Bond said Friday afternoon during a visit to Cape Girardeau. "It's high time we returned some of that money to the hard-working people who earned it."

He spoke to about 25 Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce members at the chamber office.

"Just days after millions of American families paid their taxes, I have yet to meet a person who thinks he or she sends Washington too little money," the Missouri Republican said. "The reason we have a surplus is taxes are too high. That is a drag on the economy."

Bush wants a $1.6 trillion tax cut over 10 years. Bond believes Bush could get most of what he wants, perhaps tax cuts totaling $1.4 trillion. Congress, he said, could pass such tax cuts by June.

The Republican-controlled House has approved several portions of Bush's tax package as well as the overall figure of tax cuts. The Senate has yet to take up specific tax bills and in its budget resolution set aside $1.28 trillion for tax relief. But Bond said that number could increase when Senate and House negotiators meet to iron out differences.

Bond said Missouri families would benefit from the Bush plan.

Bond said a Missouri couple with two children and a median income of $41,277 currently pays $2,409 in federal income taxes. Under Bush's plan, that family could see its taxes cut by two-thirds to $809, a $1,600 annual savings.

"That's not pocket change for most families I know," he said. "That's a down payment on a new truck and a lot of groceries."

Bond said the 6 million Americans at the bottom of the tax rolls would no longer pay federal income taxes under the president's plan.

The senator said tax cuts would allow small-business owners to expand product lines and services, and create more jobs.

Among other things, Bush's plan would repeal the estate tax.

"To me, death is bad enough, you don't want the tax collector arriving at the same time as the undertaker," the senator said.

More than 70 percent of all family businesses don't survive the second generation and nearly 90 percent don't make it to a third generation because the company must be sold to pay the estate taxes, Bond said, citing Small Business Administration statistics.