You're going to have a harder time paying your tuition bill when Sen. John Kerry raises taxes on your family, if he wins the presidential election this year. Thanks to President Bush's tax relief, the per-child family tax credit doubled from $500 to $1,000, benefiting over 520,000 Wisconsin families. In fact, altogether 111 million individuals and families have received an average tax cut of $1,586 in 2004. So next time your family takes a vacation, buys a new car or pays your Marquette bill, thank Bush for helping make it possible.

But Kerry opposes making those tax cuts permanent. So in a few years, watch out, because your family is going to see a huge bump in what the government takes. But it's not enough for Kerry to simply not renew the tax relief that's jumpstarted America's economy.

According to his campaign, Kerry plans to reinstate the death tax right away. If you want to discourage entrepreneurship, nothing works better than the government taxing a business twice that people spend a lifetime building. He also wants to raise taxes on the personal income of small business owners, money which many of them reinvest in expanding their business and creating jobs.

Kerry also plans on a lot of new government spending, $1.9 trillion in the next 10 years to be exact. And while he would raise taxes on families and businesses by $658 billion over 10 years, he's still got a tax gap of over one trillion dollars! Where's he going to make up for that amount? I'm afraid your family's pocketbook looks quite appealing. These concerns led an April 10 Wall Street Journal editorial to opine, "Mr. Kerry's 'fiscal responsibility' would mean increasing the tax burden again, which would likely kill the recovery."

Bush takes a very different view. He recognizes a fundamental fact of economics: You don't raise taxes on a fragile economy. That was Kerry's opinion in 2001, when he told NBC News, "When you have a downturn in the economy, the last thing you do is raise taxes or cut spending. We shouldn't do either. We need to maintain a course that hopefully will stimulate the economy … you don't want to raise taxes."

In yet another flip-flop, Kerry's suddenly decided the government should raise your taxes, which means either one of two things: He's changed his mind yet again, or he's acknowledging Bush's policies worked and we've moved out of the downturn into recovery. Either way, it certainly seems like another reason to vote for Bush.

Two other articles in the April 22 Tribune also warrant comment. In Susan Haarman's article "Kerry's stance may risk November race" concerning Catholic voting patterns, Megan Toal-Rossi of Students for Kerry attempted to explain away her candidate's pro-choice stance.

Let's look at the facts. Bush is very much committed to advancing the culture of life in America, and his statements and policies reflect that. From signing the partial birth abortion ban to ending federal money for overseas abortions, Bush delivered on his promises to the pro-life community. He's also signed legislation to encourage and support adoption as a better alternative for women in crisis.

Kerry believes in a very different set of ideas. Kerry has received a 100 percent rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League and a 0 percent rating from National Right to Life based on his votes in Congress. He voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, telling the Boston Globe, "There is no such thing as a partial birth." Kerry has a 20-year plus record of being one of the abortion lobby's most reliable votes, pushing him out of the mainstream and providing another reason he was rated the Senate's most liberal member by National Journal magazine.

All of that is why students at Marquette are so excited for Bush's campaign, as our "Rally for Victory Campaign Kickoff" on April 20 proved. Students for Bush are the most active and organized political group on campus, and we have a plan to carry us to victory on Nov. 2.

In the end, Bush is the right choice for small business owners, middle class families, Catholics and students. That's not a "old conservative lie," it's just old-fashioned American common sense.

Suhr is a sophomore political science major and is chair of Marquette Students for Bush.

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