US President George W. Bush on Saturday launched an election-year drive to make his sweeping tax cuts permanent, seizing on trillion-dollar stock market gains as proof that the economy is on the right track despite weaker-than-expected job growth.
Democrats, who want to roll back or repeal the tax cuts rather than extend them, said Bush would only exacerbate record federal budget deficits expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone.
Without mentioning the deficits or the United States' growing debt load, Bush warned against calls to "reverse the course" on the tax cuts as advocated by Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean and others.
"The choice is clear. Tax relief has got this economy going again, and tax relief will keep it moving forward," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
Democrats countered that Bush's tax cuts, including his $1.35 trillion package in 2001 and last year's $350 billion plan, have done little to spur job creation.
"An economic policy built on reckless deficits and irresponsible tax cuts has brought two consecutive years of job loss for the first time in over half a century," Dean said.
Bush said his fiscal 2005 budget, which he will send to Congress on February 2, would call on lawmakers to make permanent all his tax cuts - from a $1,000 child credit to breaks for small businesses, investors and estates.
"If Congress fails to act, this tax relief will disappear and millions of American families and small businesses would see tax hikes starting in 2005," Bush said.
"For the sake of our economic expansion, and for the sake of millions of Americans who depend on small businesses for their jobs, we need Congress to act to make tax relief permanent."
If Congress balks at his request, the White House said the increased child credit, additional marriage penalty relief, and expanded 10-percent bracket would sunset in 2005, increasing the tax burden on a family of four earning $40,000 by $922.
The White House also said Democratic efforts to repeal the tax cuts would translate into higher taxes for 109 million taxpayers.
In setting out his case for making the tax cuts permanent, Bush said the US economy was "strong and getting stronger," and cited recent gains in homeownership, business investment, and manufacturing activity.
In a rare reference to stocks, he said: "Stock market wealth has increased by more than $3 trillion over the past year."
Bush also sought to put the best possible spin on the job market. In December the unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent, down from 5.9 percent in November.
The decline was mainly because 309,000 people dropped out of the work force. The number of workers on US payrolls outside the farm sector in December increased by just 1,000. It was the fifth consecutive monthly climb but was far below economists' expectations for a rise of 130,000.
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