The tax changes pit one generation against another, and only the rich come out winners.

Pssst . . . just take the $500 tax credit for the kid and shut up. For many people, that’s what support of the budget deal will come down to, and you can’t blame them. It’s a helluva bribe to be allowed to take anything off that check you have to write the IRS. The sad thing is that most of us are bought off for so little.

What Congress gives with one hand it takes back with another. The same parents who get a break on their kids are likely to find themselves with increased costs in taking care of their own parents due to the $115 billion in Medicare cuts. Or maybe they will have to spend days at the Social Security office attempting to straighten out Grandpa’s eligibility status because the budget “savings” that make the tax cut possible include gutting the Social Security Administration’s operating budget. Then there’s the cut in the Veterans Affairs budget that hits home just as the Vietnam veteran population gets to the age of needing more in services. These tax changes are based on a generational warfare that ignores the fact that younger and older folks do tend to be interrelated.

For middle-income families, the average tax break will be about $200 a year, but they will have to put up with serious cuts in services, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which comes to our aid during floods and earthquakes.

Of course, if you’re Bill Gates, the new tax code rewards are stunning. Last year, Gates experienced a $24-billion run-up of the value of his Microsoft holdings. Just to put matters in perspective, that rise in Gates’ wealth was equal to the total increased earnings of 19 million average American workers. The new tax law offers no breaks for those wage earners, but people like Gates will benefit mightily from the much lower capital gains tax on stock sales.

Since the media elite is in the top 5% that will receive almost half of the tax cuts, it is no wonder that there is little attention paid to this regressive tax law, with alarming implications for a society already riven by growing class differences.

By the end of the period covered by this budget, the wealthiest 1% will receive more benefits than the bottom 80%. It’s a great deal if you have $500,000 equity in your home, which now can be sold tax-free, or $2 million per couple to leave heirs who won’t have to pay inheritance tax.

The new tax bill is so laden with loopholes and complex variations that it will be a field day for tax lawyers and a nightmare for ordinary folks attempting to complete their forms.

The members of Congress were given the completed package at 3:30 a.m. the day of the budget vote, and none could legitimately claim to be knowledgeable about the details. Roaming the halls of Congress until late last Friday as lawmakers were deserting town for the August break, I couldn’t find a member of any party who could competently discuss the details.

For example, did Amway, a major contributor to Newt Gingrich and the Republican Party, get a major tax break as Democratic congressmen charged? That tax break, estimated to be worth a potential $280 million, is covered in Provision C of Section XI of the new code: “Modification of Passive Foreign Investment Company Provisions to Eliminate Overlap With Subpart F and to Allow Mark-to-Market Election, and to Modify Asset Measurement Rule.” And this gobbledygook from Republicans who campaigned for a flatter, simpler tax?

Blame for this fiscal fiasco falls squarely on congressional Republicans. Yes, Bill Clinton was in on the deal, but he deserves credit for making a bad situation somewhat better by scoring victories on welfare and the rights of legal immigrants. He even forced Gingrich and Trent Lott to sign onto Ted Kennedy’s plan to cover uninsured kids with revenue from increased cigarette taxes. But the price is a $13-billion cut in Medicaid funds to hospitals serving the poor. And in a loophole not noticed until the 11th hour, the tobacco companies get to credit this tax against what they owe on the omnibus settlement.

Thanks to the courage of Democrats who raised taxes on the wealthy and cut spending in 1993, without the support of a single Republican vote, we were on our way to cutting into the massive debt accumulated during the Reagan years. But when the new tax bribes for the rich are fully implemented, the debt once will again spiral out of control. Hey, no problem. Just put your millions into the stock market and ride out the storm.