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The rich and taxes.
IT's not often you get attacked as a "liar" by Paul Krugman and a "clown" by a member of the UC Berkeley economics faculty on the same day, but that happened to me recently, in response to an NRO article I wrote on tax fairness. The Berkeley economist, Brad DeLong, scolded, "Everyone trying to do serious research ... finds their credibility dragged down into the gutter by this guy."
What had gotten the class-warfare crowd so worked up was my statement that no one can credibly call the Bush tax plan a "tax cut for the rich" because the rich pay a larger share of federal income taxes than they would have if Bush hadn't cut taxes.
My source is a study by the Treasury Department on tax shares paid by income groups. Treasury estimates that the top 1 percent will pay about 32.3 percent of all taxes this year. Treasury also estimates that absent the tax cuts, the top 1 percent would be paying only 30.5 percent of taxes, down 10 percent from 2001.
It's true that the rich paid a smaller share of their incomes in taxes in 2001, 2002, and 2003 than they did in 2000. But remember, 2000 was the year the stock-market bubble reached its peak. There were massive gains to the federal treasury in that year from taxes paid on capital-gains and stock-option income. Yet when the stock market crashed and the economy tanked, incomes of the rich plummeted and so did their tax payments.
The Left was exuberant over a recent Congressional Budget Office report concluding that the rich pay a smaller share of the tax burden under the Bush tax cuts. But there were two flaws with that analysis. First, the base year for the CBO study was 2000, the year when incomes and tax payments were anomalously high. Second, the study uses static ...
- Kerry proposes middle-class tax cuts, criticizes Bush tax policy.
- News wire article from: Knight Ridder Washington Bureau (Washington, DC) December 3, 2002 700+ words
...with a plan to freeze President Bush's tax cuts and to prime the economy with a payroll...that reward the wealthiest Americans over tax cuts for everyday working Americans." Instead...he proposed to freeze Bush's future tax cuts, which are scheduled to begin in 2006...
- Kerry proposes middle-class tax cuts, criticizes Bush tax policy.(Knight Ridder...
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Kuhnhenn, James December 3, 2002 700+ words
...with a plan to freeze President Bush's tax cuts and to prime the economy with a payroll...that reward the wealthiest Americans over tax cuts for everyday working Americans." Instead...he proposed to freeze Bush's future tax cuts, which are scheduled to begin in 2006...
- House Takes Short Break From Tax Cuts.(Congress and George W. Bush tax...
- Magazine article from: Congress Daily AM March 9, 2001 700+ words
...voted against, sending a message that they opposed action on tax cuts before a budget resolution has been adopted. A daylong push...was led by Blue Dog Democrats--many of whom have supported tax cuts in the past over the objections of Democratic leaders. But...
- GOP group attacks Carney's stance on tax cuts: Ads say Sherwood's Dem...
- Newspaper article from: Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA) September 20, 2006 700+ words
...have absolutely no basis in fact." He released a list of tax cuts and credits he's proposed to benefit middle-class taxpayers...when asked if he would "support making President Bush's tax cuts permanent." "Chris Carney needs to make up his mind where...
- The Bush tax cuts you won't see: blame it on the other 'D' word; deficit....
- Magazine article from: Industry Week Evans, Michael K. January 1, 2003 700+ words
...conservative Republicans to support further tax cuts for the "rich" or for business...point in the same direction: The Bush tax cut of 2001 was not a very good idea...whereas 80% to 90% of the Reagan tax cuts were spent in their first year. It...
- Dean calls for elimination of Bush tax cuts.
- News wire article from: The America's Intelligence Wire October 16, 2003 700+ words
...repeal of the trillions of dollars in tax cuts signed into law by President Bush...to repeal all of the president's tax cuts," said Dean, the former governor...The economy in general, and the Bush tax cuts in particular, are certain to be...
- Tax Act Of '04 Retains Some Bush Tax Cuts That Were Poised To Expire.(SERIES:...
- Magazine article from: Investor's Business Daily October 8, 2004 700+ words
...is limited. It is linked to many tax cuts created by the '01 and '03 tax...extends those cuts. But most '01 tax cuts are still due to expire after 2010...Unless Congress acts before 2011, the Bush tax cuts of recent years will sunset.
- Bush Administration Lifts Steel Tariffs; Interview With Former - Part 2 But you...
- News wire article from: The America's Intelligence Wire December 6, 2003 700+ words
(From CNN News) Copyright: Content and programming copyright 2003 Cable News Network, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Prepared by FDCH e-Media, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc., eMediaMillWorks, Inc.) No license is granted to the user of this material other than for research. User may
- $262 billion: case closed? In their zeal to justify the Bush tax cuts, the Wall...
- Newspaper article from: Dollars & Sense Miller, John November 1, 2005 700+ words
...especially GOP senators, that the Bush tax cuts are working, and that now is...who already believed that the Bush tax cuts are working and that more tax...revenues had little to do with the Bush tax cuts. "Other recent tax-law changes...
- Bush tax cuts found to aid DeWine more: Opponent Brown benefited less.
- Newspaper article from: Blade (Toledo, OH) October 13, 2006 700+ words
Byline: Jim Tankersley Oct. 13--The Bush tax cuts have treated Mike DeWine much better than Sherrod Brown...personal returns support their political arguments. "The Bush tax cuts don't reward work," said Mr. Brown, who has proposed...
Source: HighBeam Research, The rich and taxes.