The struggle against economic slowdown, which many have foreseen and feared, has gained a leader.

According to the new leader, the economy will be boosted once again, and this time everyone will reap the benefits.

That fearless leader: George W. Bush?

Bush has said his income tax cut will “provide relief to all income-tax payers” and will “help jump-start the American economy.”

Putting money back into the wallets of Americans will foster consumption of goods and services, reviving the economy, he said.

But whose pockets will be getting the fattest?

Bush said his proposed tax plan will give “the greatest help for those most in need.”

Apparently, Bush has taken the plight of the nation’s poor into his consideration of the tax break.

“The goal is to get money in the pockets of the working people as quickly as we can,” he said in a speech on Feb. 6.

A look at the numbers tells a slightly different tale than the president’s spin on the tax plan.

This plan would reduce the current five tax brackets being taxed at rates of 15 percent, 28 percent, 31 percent, 36 percent and 39.6 percent to four brackets taxed at rates of 10 percent, 15 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent.

With all brackets receiving relief, it would seem the lowest brackets would be the big winners in Bush’s plan. He has keyed on the gains of the poorest taxpayers, and he is - gulp - right. They will gain from this tax cut.

But, what they will gain and what they could gain are two very different things.

The people who will benefit the most are the same ones who are taxed at the highest rates.

A 5 percent cut to someone who has an annual income of $250,000 will save them $12,500.

The same 5 percent tax relief for a person who earns $40,000 will save them $2,000.

The question to be asked is “Who needs the tax break more?”

I will assume the six-figure income-tax payer will be happy with his tax break, but the money saved will not be a necessity to his livelihood.

The lower-earning family could probably use the extra money for more necessary things.

A tax break of this nature does put money back into the economy - but it doesn’t put the money into the right pockets.

If Bush was serious about being “fair” to low-income families, why wouldn’t the top bracket receive less of a break and the lowest brackets more relief?

The problems with a tax plan like this is it only perpetuates, if not encourages, a more strict and defined class system.

Our country’s social system does not allow for an immense opportunity for vertical class movement. In fact, we are all most likely to remain in the class we were born into.

Lining the pockets of the richest and flipping a quarter to the poorest is not going to “jump-start” anything much more than the building of higher walls between classes.

In his Feb. 3 radio address, Bush likened the benefits of his proposed tax plan to a party.

In regards to past prosperity, Bush said, “a lot of people feel as if they have been looking through the window at somebody else’s party.”

He continued by saying it is time to fling the doors open and invite everyone inside: “It is time to reward the work of people trying to enter the middle class and put some more money in their pockets at a time when they need it.”

I am sorry if I am the only skeptic of Bush’s charitable tax cut. It seems the poorest people are benefiting least from the cut.

If Bush was sincerely hoping to help people enter the middle class, he’d realize cutting the taxes of everyone is going to leave the richest with the biggest savings.

There is a certain point when enough money is obtained and anything earned after is a luxury, but why pour the majority of surplus dollars to those who need it the least?

Bush is not opening any new doors for many Americans, but really holding a door to the continued poverty and disparity that many people suffer.

Dan Woike, a State News intern, can be reached at woikedan@msu.edu.