By Salim Muwakkil, senior editor at In These Times, Nov. 12, 2001

Our national leadership has been mouthing pieties about all-for-one patriotism but practicing spare-the-rich favouritism, in the wake of the terrorist attacks...

On Oct. 25, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that gives corporate interests the "wish list" of tax cuts they've long been seeking. Regrettably, corporate lobbyists used the September tragedy and the consequent need for an economic stimulus as a rationale for their pet tax loopholes. Even more regrettable is that Congress appears ready to let them get away with it...

More than 95 percent of the legislation consists of tax cuts, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based think tank that monitors federal spending, and all but 10 percent of that is allocated for corporations and business and upper-income people. "Essentially, this legislation is a vehicle for tax cuts that have little to do with boosting the economy now or assisting unemployed workers," concluded an analysis by the group.

Among the proposals in the House bill are reductions in the capital gains tax rate, repeal of the corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (which was passed in 1986 to help reduce abuse of tax loopholes), accellerating corporate tax deductions for equipment depreciation, cutting taxes for the top 30 percent five years ahead of schedule and extensions of off-shore tax shelters.