Visiting the Citizens for Tax Justice website I learned that the Bill Senate Republicans are behind would RAISE TAXES on the bottom 60% of Americans. That's right while maintaining tax cuts that average $46 Million each year for each of the top 400 households Republicans want to raise taxes on the bottom 60% of Americans!
Citizens for Tax Justice
Senate Republicans have introduced a bill (S. 3773) to make permanent the income tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration for all taxpayers and to repeal most of the federal tax on the estates of millionaires. This bill would not make permanent the expansions of the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit included in the recovery act.
# Under the Republican plan, the bottom 60 percent of U.S. taxpayers would pay $124 more in 2011, on average, than they would under President Obama's plan.
# Under the Republican plan, the richest one percent of U.S. taxpayers would pay $45,893 less in 2011, on average, than they would under President Obama's plan.
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# Under the Republican plan, the richest one percent of taxpayers would receive 34.5 percent of the total tax cuts in 2011.
Citizens for Tax Justice is one of the few groups the specializes in tax issues without putting a right wing slant on their analysis. As a disclaimer I have made donations to them in the 1980s when I was upset by Reagan's tax cuts for the rich. They have a sterling reputation for their fair analysis of tax issues. When it comes to tax issues I turn to CTJ for the vbest information availablethat's why they're on my blog roll.
Check out CTJ's interactive MAP
Earlier while I was looking at the controversial Perter G. Peterson Foundation's website one of the links under the heading Taxes jumped out at me.
Tax Rate for Richest 400 Taxpayers Plummeted in Recent Decades, Even as Their Pre-Tax Incomes Skyrocketed
According to a CBPP report, the wealthiest in our country are making more money (with pre-tax income up 400 percent since 1995) and getting taxed far less (almost half of the 1995 rates)
An excerpt from the report: The effective federal income tax rate for the 400 taxpayers with the very highest incomes has declined by nearly half over the past two decades, even as their pre-tax incomes have grown five times larger, new IRS data show.
The top 400 households paid 16.6 percent of their income in federal individual income taxes in 2007, down from 30 percent in 1995. This decline works out to a tax cut of $46 million per filer in 2007, or a total of $18 billion in tax cuts for these households per year.
$46 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR IN TAX CUTS EACH Republicans are willing to bring the Federal Government to a stand still so this elite group can continue their tax holiday.
Here's an except from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities Report
pdf
The top 400 households paid 16.6 percent of their Tax Rates Dropping Sharply for Highest Earners income in federal individual income taxes in 2007, down from 30 percent in 1995. This decline works out to a tax cut of $46 million per filer in 2007, or a total of $18 billion in tax cuts for these households per year.
To make it into the top 400, a household needed an adjusted gross income of at least $35 million in 1992 (in 2007 dollars) and $139 million in 2007.
The decline in effective tax rates at the very top is due in large part to the capital gains tax cuts enacted n 1997 and 2003. The top marginal tax rate on capital gains is now 15 percent, less than half the
top tax rate on wages and salaries. The top 400 taxpayers derived two-thirds of their income from
capital gains and qualified dividends in 2007.
Over roughly the same period, the top 400 filers enjoyed huge gains ipre-tax incomes. The average pre-tax income of this group rose by over 400 percent between 1992 and 2007, equivalent to a $275 million increase per person, after adjusting for inflation. In 2007 alone, average pre-tax incomes rose by 31 percent among these individuals.
In short, the top 400 filers now pay much lower effective tax rates on vastly larger incomes
Should we continue to run our country according to what's best for these 400 families as the Republicans want to bully us into?
These 400 already control the Republican Party.
Do they control the Democratic Party as well?
We should have our answer by Christmas.