Tax Plan's Political Solution Offers Little for Economy

Updated from 7:12 a.m. EDT

Even with his original $726 billion tax-cut plan, President Bush faced a tough sell on its ability to jump-start the economy. But the much smaller compromise plan Congress hammered out this week -- riddled with phase-in and sunset provisions -- makes his economic-stimulus vision a lost cause.

"It's a strange way to make tax law," says Tom Oschenschlager, partner at Grant Thornton in Washington. "The whole idea was to stimulate investing and consumer spending, but that's never going to happen."

Don't believe the critics of the plan? Consider President Bush's own assessment a month ago: He claimed that a $350 billion tax cut was far to small to stimulate the economy. Now, though, he says he supports the bill that will be approved by Congress. ...