DIVIDEND TAX CUT DESIGNED TO AID ECONOMY.(BUSINESS)

Byline: WENDY TANAKA Knight Ridder

The centerpiece of President Bush's sweeping economic stimulus package is a reduction in the taxes investors pay on their stock dividends, a measure aimed at making stocks attractive investments again.

But experts are divided on whether this will encourage corporations to increase their dividend payments or, for many more, even start paying them.

Donald Straszheim, a financial adviser in Los Angeles, is a proponent of the dividend tax cut, which will be in effect for the next five years.

``This is a very important tax law change for equities,'' said Straszheim, founder and principal of Straszheim Global …