Brian Beutler has a new Democratic memo in response to Republican Sen. Pat Toomey's Catfood Commission II proposal, the one that supposedly brought revenue to the table, demonstrating why it was rejected by Democrats. These charts demonstrate the impact of a similar plan offered by Republicans, but that contained less extensive rate cuts than Toomey's.
Average change in tax, relative to current policy (click here for full-size image):
Average change in after-tax-income, relative to current policy (click here for full-size image):
The GOP claims the plan would raise $300 billion in revenue, and also make the newer, lower Bush tax rates permanent. To accomplish this, simple arithmetic implies he'd have to raise a ton of tax revenue elsewhere. But since he objects to raising taxes on capital income, that would require him to slash deeply into credits and preferences that benefit lower and middle income taxpayers. [...]
To simplify, the GOP proposes to slash benefits for low and middle income taxpayers to pay for a big tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the rich.
When all's said and done, this would raise most people's overall tax burden, while increasing after-tax income for wealthy people.
I know, you're shocked. In case it wasn't clear to anyone watching this debacle, no, the Republicans are not negotiating in good faith. As usual.