Governor Tom Vilsack took aim at President Bush this morning during a speech at Georgetown University, accusing Bush of creating a “slow motion” economic crisis.Vilsack, who is a democrat, says he has deep concerns about going from a five TRILLION dollar federal surplus to a predicted five trillion dollar federal deficit. He says that will make it more difficult to create jobs in an economy slowed by rising interest rates and debt. Vilsack says the job creation record of the Bush Administration is cause for concern and should be a “wake-up call” for the country in this election year. Vilsack says making the Bush tax cuts permanent would do further damage by making the federal budget situation even worse.On another topic, Governor Vilsack is not on board with a plan that would levy a property tax on the state’s race track casinos. The plan’s advanced by lawmakers as a means for collecting the 112-million dollars in back taxes the state owes the tracks because the tracks won a lawsuit challenging the way the state taxed the tracks at a higher rate the riverboat casinos. Vilsack says levying a new property tax on the tracks might cause the tracks to file another lawsuit. Vilsack says, though, it’s important to send the tracks the signal that the state isn’t going to cut other priorities in order to pay them 112-million dollars. Vilsack is praising the work of a subcommittee which yesterday unveiled a wide-ranging gambling bill which would allow up to five new gambling boats in the state. Vilsack says the group’s working in a bipartisan way to address the issues, but he is not saying which components of that bill he supports and which he doesn’t.
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