"Tax policy

An analysis in 2004 on the effects of the first three Bush administration tax cuts by
the Congressional Budget Office showed that the average tax cut received by the top 1
percent of households (families with an average income of $1.2 million) equaled more
than $83,000 while that of middle-income households (families with an average income
of $51,600) was less than $1,000Ñeven after excluding the Òbonus depreciationÓ
business tax cut and the phase-out of the federal estate tax. The percentage by which
the effective tax rate was cut for high-income families was nearly twice the rate cut for
those in the middle of the income spectrum.

Minimum wage

The Bush economic team was also anxious to assist the Òsupply sideÓ of the economy
in ways that extended beyond tax cuts. One involved the cost of labor. The most
immediate issue was whether the minimum wage should be adjusted for inflation. At
$5.15, it had been not been adjusted in three-and-a-half years, and had already fallen
in real terms by 8 percent. Compared to the $5 per day or $.063 per hour minimum
that Henry Ford offered his employees in 1914 the federal minimum wage in 2001
amounted to about $0.30 an hour in 1914 dollars.

The Bush administration was careful not to directly oppose an adjustment in the
minimum wage, but threatened to veto the measure if it were not accompanied by
further large business tax cuts. These it was argued were necessary to offset the negative
effects on businesses that were forced to pay higher wages.

The result of the administrationÕs position was that the minimum wage was stuck at
$5.15 for a total of 10 years, the longest period without adjustment since it was instituted in 1938. In inflation-adjusted dollars it reached its lowest value in over 50 years, dropping by 29 percent before the new law was adopted in 2007.

(Excerpts from above PDF link)