GOP to Seek Tax Rate Increase?

According to the Wall Street Journal,

"a handful of GOP Senators think a tax increase is needed to pay for Katrina pending. Their immediate target is the 15% rate on capital gains and dividends that was a crucial part of the wildly successful 2003 tax cuts. Those rates are set to expire in 2008, which would mean a big tax increase back to a 35% rate on dividends, and 20% on capital gains."

But even with Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf War, is a tax hike needed?

"$262 billion. That's the amount of additional revenue that the federal government will collect in the fiscal year that ends this month, a roughly 15% increase. This is the largest annual increase in federal revenues, even after inflation, in American history."

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