EVANS, SNOW & CHAO VISIT WISCONSIN ON THE
JOBS & GROWTH TOUR

Today, Commerce Secretary Don Evans, Treasury Secretary John Snow, and Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao visited Wisconsin on their “Jobs & Growth Tour” to discuss the state of the economy and the recently enacted jobs and growth plan - as well as other efforts by President Bush to create jobs, strengthen the economic recovery and increase workers' standards of living.

Today, during the “Jobs and Growth Tour” Secretaries Evans, Snow and Chao participated in town hall style meetings, roundtables, and tours. They met with families, workers, manufacturers, local business leaders, economic officials, small business owners, seniors and individual investors. They toured the Harley Davidson Powertrain Operations Plant in Wauwatosa, WI; participated in a small Business Roundtable event at Conger Industries in Green Bay, WI; and held a child tax credit/marriage penalty tax event at Culver’s of Wausau in Mosinee, WI.

"Secretaries Snow, Chao and I are traveling in Wisconsin so we can collect real-time economic information from real American people," said Commerce Secretary Evans. "Today's leg of the Jobs and Growth tour allowed us to hear from scores of workers, small business owners and families about the economy and reinforced President Bush's belief that the strength of the American economy lies in our people and our factories, not within the halls of Washington D.C."

“We are seeing first-hand the signs that President Bush’s Jobs and Growth plan is taking root and beginning to have a positive effect on the economy,” stated Treasury Secretary Snow. “It has been great to meet the workers, families and small business owners in Wisconsin that are working hard to create more jobs and help the economy grow. With the arrival of the child credit checks starting this week, families in Wisconsin will have more money to use as they see fit—they can use it for back to school supplies, saving for their child’s education, or for a family vacation.”

"We had a good day meeting and talking with the working men and women in Wisconsin who are the backbone of our economy and our country,” stated Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao. “They are the ones who will benefit most by the President's Jobs and Growth plan which will help stimulate new economic growth and create more jobs."

Many hardworking Wisconsin families and small businesses benefit greatly from the Jobs and Growth Act. As an example:

· More than 1.8 million taxpayers in Wisconsin will have lower income tax bills in 2003 under the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.

· 405,000 business taxpayers can use their tax savings to invest in new equipment, hire additional workers, and increase pay.

· Nearly 1.5 million married couples and single filers will benefit from the acceleration to 2003 of the expansion of the 10-percent bracket scheduled for 2008.

· More than 495,000 taxpayers in Wisconsin will benefit from the acceleration to 2003 of the reductions in income tax rates in excess of 15-percent scheduled for 2004 and 2006.

· More than 760,000 married couples in Wisconsin will benefit from the acceleration to 2003 of provisions that increase the standard deduction for joint filers to double the amount for single filers and increase the width of the 15-percent bracket to twice the width for single filers. These two provisions were scheduled to phase in between 2005 and 2009.

· More than 515,000 married couples and single parents in Wisconsin will benefit from the acceleration to 2003 of the increase in the child tax credit from $600 to $1,000 that was scheduled to phase in between 2005 and 2010.

· 510,000 taxpayers in Wisconsin will benefit from the reduced tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

SOURCE: Counts are for the number of returns filed in 2002 that would have benefited from the package. These estimates are based on tabulations from all individual income tax returns processed by the Internal Revenue Service in 2002. Most of these returns covered tax year 2001.