Whose Tax Cut?
While the so-called more reputable press
continues to report on the haggling in the US Congress over the size of the new
tax cut, TheRealTruth
has learned who will really benefit the most from the new tax cuts.
|
|
|
CBO 2002 Tax Revenue
Estimates |
|
||
|
AGI Limits ($) |
Returns |
Tax Rate |
Revenue |
Total Taxes |
|
|
Lower |
Upper |
(thosands) |
Current (%) |
Current ($M) |
Current (%) |
|
0 |
10000 |
25755 |
-6.7 |
-8.63 |
-0.9 |
|
10000 |
20000 |
23602 |
-3.0 |
-10.62 |
-1.1 |
|
20000 |
30000 |
18644 |
3.8 |
17.71 |
1.8 |
|
30000 |
40000 |
13534 |
7.0 |
33.16 |
3.3 |
|
40000 |
50000 |
10307 |
9.0 |
41.74 |
4.1 |
|
50000 |
75000 |
17874 |
10.3 |
115.06 |
11.4 |
|
75000 |
100000 |
10224 |
12.3 |
110.04 |
10.9 |
|
100000 |
200000 |
9906 |
16.0 |
237.74 |
23.5 |
|
200000 |
500000 |
2395 |
23.0 |
192.80 |
19.1 |
|
500000 |
1000000 |
418 |
27.7 |
86.84 |
8.6 |
|
1000000 |
5000000 |
226 |
28.8 |
195.26 |
19.3 |
|
|
Total |
132885 |
|
1011.11 |
100.0 |
These tables were supplied to TheRealTruth by
sources in the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) who need to remain anonymous
for obvious reasons. Among other things
they show that those tax payers reporting income over $1 million, who hardly
need a tax cut, will see an average change about 100 times the change that
middle income taxpayers will see and about 1000 times the change that low
income tax payers, who need the tax cut the most, will see.
|
|
|
How Bush Plan May
Affect Your Taxes |
|
||
|
AGI Limits ($) |
Tax Rate |
Revenue |
Total Taxes |
Average |
|
|
Lower |
Upper |
Proposed (%) |
Proposed ($M) |
Proposed (%) |
Change ($) |
|
0 |
10000 |
-6.9 |
-8.89 |
-1.0 |
-10 |
|
10000 |
20000 |
-3.5 |
-12.39 |
-1.4 |
-75 |
|
20000 |
30000 |
3.0 |
13.98 |
1.5 |
-200 |
|
30000 |
40000 |
6.1 |
28.90 |
3.2 |
-315 |
|
40000 |
50000 |
8.0 |
37.11 |
4.1 |
-450 |
|
50000 |
75000 |
9.1 |
101.66 |
11.2 |
-750 |
|
75000 |
100000 |
10.4 |
93.04 |
10.3 |
-1663 |
|
100000 |
200000 |
14.3 |
212.48 |
23.4 |
-2550 |
|
200000 |
500000 |
21.6 |
181.06 |
20.0 |
-4900 |
|
500000 |
1000000 |
25.3 |
79.32 |
8.7 |
-18000 |
|
1000000 |
5000000 |
26.7 |
181.03 |
20.0 |
-63000 |
|
|
Total |
|
907.29 |
100.0 |
|
These tables also show that, contrary to
the popular party line, the very rich, those with adjusted gross income (AGI)
above $1 million, do not pay the most taxes.
They pay less than 20% of the total taxes, while the middle-middle
class, those with AGI between $30 thousand and $100 thousand, pay nearly 30% of
the total taxes. As the CBO tables show,
those percentages change less than 1% under the proposed tax plan.
The group that pays the most taxes is the
upper-middle class, those reporting an AGI between $100 and $200 thousand. They pay 23.5% of the total taxes. The group that pays the least taxes is the
middle-rich, those reporting an AGI between $500 thousand and $1 million. They
pay only 8.6% of the total taxes. As the
CBO tables show, those percentages change less than 0.1% under the proposed tax
plan.
Note also that low income tax payers
earning less than $20 thousand per year actually pay negative taxes. Because of
earned income and child care tax credits, they actually get more in return from
the IRS than they paid in.
The tables given to TheRealTruth reflect only the
tax cuts due to a change in the tax bracket rates, including the elimination of
the difference between single and married tax rates, often called the marriage
penalty tax. They obviously miss the
effect of other tax cuts, such as the increase in individual retirement account
(IRA) deduction limits, which have the effect of moving individual tax payers
into a lower AGI bracket and will benefit the middle class the most. In particular, they do not include the other
major tax cut, the elimination of taxes on stock dividends, which is expected
to double the magnitude of the tax cut for the rich and upper-middle classes.
This is the Real
Truth!