In the wake of the shakeup to their leadership, House Republicans have promoted our congressman, Rep Dave Camp (R-Midland), to serve as spokesperson for the effort to make President Bush's 2003 tax cuts permanent.

Camp got off to a rocky start in his new position when he misstated the facts about who benefits from such cuts. Camp claimed on the House floor that "Nearly 60 percent of the taxpayers with incomes less than $100,000 had income from capital gains and dividends.''

In fact, I.R.S. data show that among the 90% of taxpayers who make less than $100,000, just one in seven benefited from the cuts in dividend taxes and just one in 20 from the capital gains reduction.

Questioned about the discrepancy, Camp asserted through his office that he had been mislead by a House staffer, but that making the cuts permanent was ''good policy and good for our economy.''

Although they do little for the middle and working classes, the tax cuts have been a bonanza for the richest Americans. Among those making more $10 million a year, tax bills have gone down an average of $1 million per year as a result of the Bush cuts. These taxpayers, whose average income is $26 million per year, pay about the same share of their income in income taxes as those making $200,000 to $500,000 per year, thanks to the investment tax cuts championed by Camp.