Bush will defend tax cuts 'to death'

George Bush: "The worst thing you can do is raise taxes"

US President George W Bush has hit back at critics of his tax cut policy, saying that "not over my dead body" would he see levies raised.

Replying to comments by Democrat senator Tom Daschle, Mr Bush said "the worst thing you can do is raise taxes".

"There's some in Washington saying that the tax cut caused the recession," he told a 5,000-strong audience near Los Angeles.

"If you want to get your way out of recession, you provide tax relief."

And while some members of Congress have urged a tempering of plans to provide $1.35bn in levy cuts over 11 years, Mr Bush said that any blocking of the policy represented a "tax raise".

"Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes," he said.

The address represented Mr Bush's latest attempt to promote a separate $100bn stimulus package aimed at pulling the US economy, the world's biggest, from recession.

The package has stalled in the Senate over Democrat concerns that provides too much for the wealthy.

Opposition concerns

Mr Daschle on Friday said the income tax cuts which Mr Bush prioritised immediately after taking office a year ago for the "most dramatic fiscal deterioration in our nation's history".

And fellow Democrat Byron Dorgan said: "Just a few short months later, our economy is in trouble.

"Budget surpluses have turned to budget deficits once again."

And, saying the US was faced with the choices of cutting spending or raiding reserves to balance its books, Mr Dorgan added:

"At a time when we need to fight both a war and a recession, when our nation has urgent needs on all fronts, the tax cut has taken away our flexibility and left us with only two choices. Both of them are bad."