Taxpayer group criticizes Democrat aspirant's econ plan as attack on jobs, economic recovery.

WASHINGTON - His opposition to the Iraq war was well-known, but his opposition to jobs and taxpayers was less clear.

This week, Democrat presidential contender Gen. Wesley Clark proposed a $100 billion dollar stimulus package would provide no stimulus whatsoever, but rather would stop the current economic recovery dead in its tracks and would sacrifice millions of American jobs.

Clark's proposed economic "stimulus" package contains three main parts:

• Create a Homeland and Economic Security Fund of $40 billion over two years.
• Create a state and local Tax Rebate Fund of $40 billion over two years.
• Provide $20 billion in business tax incentives over two years by giving businesses a tax credit of up to $5,000 for every new employee hired in 2004 and 2005

According to Clark's website, "The deficit-neutral plan will be paid for by rolling back parts of the Bush tax cuts that have benefited the wealthy while protecting families with annual incomes of less than $200,000 from new tax burdens."

"Gen. Clark's plan will be a job-killer, because he plans to tax small business owners," said taxpayer advocate Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in Washington D.C. "Arbitrarily repealing tax relief based on his notion of 'fairness,' Clark's stimulus plan will stimulate nothing but instability and unemployment."

America's current economic recovery is directly attributable to the tax-cut package President Bush signed into law last May. The last three years have seen a recession, the worst terror attack in history, three wars (including the broader War on Terror), and finance scandals that shook the markets to their cores - all of which were beyond the Administration's control. Yet, the stock markets are reaching their January, 2001 levels while unemployment is actually well above the 1980s recovery level.

"As a general, Mr. Clark is used to giving orders and having them obeyed, so perhaps he thinks that if he says jobs will be created then it will be so," continued Norquist. "Clark can say his plan will create jobs and boost the economy, but the simple fact is no nation in history has ever taxed itself into prosperity."