A front-page article in the May 28 Tribune notes that the U.S. Park Service may have to cut basic services at Utah's five national parks under a Bush mandate to look for savings. The reasons given include the rising costs of salaries, fuel and heightened security measures and the huge bills from the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina. The report fails to mention the main reason for the budget shortfall: Bush's tax cuts for the rich.

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the tax cuts over the last five years have increased the deficit by $929 billion - dwarfing even the costs of Iraq and Katrina. Most of these cuts have gone to the wealthiest Americans, and they have not "trickled down" to the average citizen or stimulated the economy as Bush promised.

A recent Economic Policy Institute study found that "over the last four and a half years, nearly every indicator - from job gains to economic output to spending - has fallen far short when stacked against comparable periods in past cycles," including cycles with tax increases.

Bush's unconscionable tax cuts are affecting not only Utah's national parks but numerous other programs such as job training, low-income rental subsidies, meals for shut-ins, Head Start, college Pell grants, No Child Left Behind and health care for low-income children. I hope visitors lamenting our deteriorating national parks will put the blame where it belongs, even if The Tribune doesn't.

Thomas Huckin

Salt Lake City