UAW Leaders Praise Sen. Bayh for Vote Against GOP Tax Scheme

INDIANAPOLIS, May 23, 2003 -- The United Auto Workers today praised Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) for his vote against the Republican tax cut scheme that passed the Senate today.

"This so-called tax cut is actually a thinly-disguised transfer of our nation's wealth from the hard-working majority to a small group of high-income individuals," said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. "It's full of accounting gimmicks and it's going to impose severe costs on future taxpayers."

The badly skewed Republican tax bill, said Gettelfinger, "will give millionaires a $100,000 windfall over the next four years, while working families will get very little."

"Senator Bayh was right to oppose this unbalanced legislation," said Gettelfinger. "If we had more leaders like him in the U.S. Senate, this country would have better tax policies."

"Senator Bayh said all along that if he was going to support a tax cut, it had to be targeted to help children and working families and free of accounting gimmicks," said Terry Thurman, director of UAW Region 3, which includes Indiana and Kentucky. "The tax cut scheme that passed today failed on both counts.

"Some people are going to criticize Senator Bayh for today's vote, because it's always popular to say you're for a tax cut," said Thurman. "But UAW members know better. Tax breaks for the rich don't stimulate our economy. And using phony numbers to hide the huge federal budget deficits caused by this bill will hurt working families in the long run."

"Evan Bayh showed real courage today by standing up for his principles," said Thurman. "He did the right thing for Indiana, and for America."