Krugman vs Kerry on the "Middle Class"

Posted at Economists for Dean

By Lerxst

Paul Krugman writes:

Many Democrats have called for a partial rollback of the Bush tax cuts, preserving the "middle class" cuts -- those that convey at least some benefit to the 77 percent of taxpayers in the 15 percent tax bracket or below. Such a partial rollback would have reduced this year's budget deficit by about $180 billion; that would help, but one hopes politicians realize that it's not enough.

As far as I can tell from the Kerry website, the only part of the Bush tax cuts that he wants to eliminate is "Bush's special tax breaks for Americans who make more than $200,000."

That is certainly not the "middle class" (15% tax bracket) that Krugman is talking about.  Dean's expressed approach of reforming the regressive payroll tax for lower and middle class workers --if we can afford it-- sounds more like what Krugman has in mind.