Tallahassee Democrat - Molly Ivins -- No justification for more tax cuts for the richOne interesting aspect of the Seriously Dumb Tax Cut we are watching develop in Washington is that we are simultaneously witnessing the effects of Seriously Dumb Tax Cuts at the state level. The states are caught in hideous binds - whether it is better to release dangerous prisoners or cut back the schools, cut back health care for kids or nursing homes for old folks.

Politically, it's notoriously difficult to oppose tax cuts precisely because the trouble doesn't show up until after the next election. But this time we have are having our noses rubbed in the results even as Bush proposes to do it again at the federal level.

The 80 percent of the households making less than $73,000 a year would get less than 10 percent of the new tax breaks.

The final reason it's dumb to cut taxes for the rich is the problem of social justice. We're already in trouble because the income gap between the rich and the rest of us keeps getting worse and worse. The rich buy their way out of our public institutions - schools, hospitals, parks - and then contribute money to politicians who let the public infrastructure go to hell. It doesn't work.