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Bush Touts Tax Cuts As Aid to Businesses

Posted on: Monday, 16 June 2003, 06:00 CDT

With an eye on his re-election campaign, President Bush renewed his focus on the economy Monday, saying the recently signed tax cut will be good for small business.

Bush toured one such company, Andrea Foods in Orange, N.J., which makes and distributes frozen Italian meals. According to the White House, provisions in the tax-cut law that Bush signed May 28 will allow Andrea Foods to buy a new pasta-making machine.

The president walked the ravioli production line at the facility, nestled in a residential neighborhood. It wasn't producing anything while Bush visited; Three of the 30 staff members stood by as he toured the plant.

"We're seeing increasing evidence of small businesses using this expensing provision to buy more equipment, which helps stimulate the economy, both at the retail level as well as the manufacturing level," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters on Air Force One. He spoke as Bush was flying from a long weekend in Kennebunkport, Maine to New Jersey.

"It's still early indications, but nevertheless, first word is good," Fleischer said of the effects of the tax cut.

For Bush, the economy is key to winning another term, and he plans to devote much of this week to it.

His trip here Monday also included a speech in New Jersey touting new tax breaks meant to spur businesses to invest in equipment. Reluctance to spend money on big-ticket items such as machinery and computers has held back the economic recovery.

Under the new law, small businesses can immediately write off $100,000 in new equipment purchases, and all businesses can write off half their investments this year.

The White House called Small Business Administration chief Hector Barretto back early from vacation to join Bush at the New Jersey appearances, one measure of the urgency with which the administration views the sagging economy.

The president plans to talk about employment training as a means of promoting job growth on Tuesday in Annandale, Va., a Washington suburb. Later that day, he will headline the first fund-raiser of his unannounced campaign for re-election in 2004.

On Thursday, Bush takes up economic growth during a visit to Minneapolis and on Friday he resumes fund raising in Greensboro, Ga. Later this month, he raises money in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tampa and Miami.

Bush is trying to show he is firmly focused on domestic priorities at a time when events overseas have taken up much of his attention. The Iraq war, a Mideast peace plan and surge in violence, and a trip to Africa planned for next month have divided his focus.

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