Bush tax cuts went to the rich

From the Economic Policy Institute:

Ten years after their enactment, the Bush tax cuts remain expensive, ineffective, and unfair. As outlined in a new EPI policy memo, the Bush-era tax changes conferred disproportionate benefits to those at the top of the earnings distribution, exacerbating a trend of widening income inequality at a time of already poor wage growth.

A distributional analysis of the 2001-08 tax changes shows that the top 1% of earners (making over $620,442) received 38% of the tax cuts. The lower 60% of filers (making less than $67,715) received less than 20% of the total benefit of Bush’s tax policies.

The Bush-era tax cuts were designed to reduce taxes for the wealthy, and the benefits of faster growth were then supposed to trickle down to the middle class. But the economic impact of cutting capital gains rates and lowering the top marginal tax rates never materialized for working families. Inflation-adjusted median weekly earnings fell by 2.3% during the 2002-07 economic expansion, which holds the distinction for being the worst economic expansion since World War II.

Post your comment

Comments are moderated. See guidelines here.

Comments

  • Bush's tax cuts should have gone to "the rich". If they did, fantastic!! They pay the most taxes in America. If any of you want bigger tax cuts for yourselves, then get bigger paychecks. Redistribution of wealth is not a tax cut! It is legalized theft. It is both immoral and unconstitutional. Also, capitalism is not a "zero-sum game"! Any/all human beings can get bigger paychecks with (a) good education (b) higher skills and/or (c) larger production. "Rich people " are not the only characters benefiting from their "massive incomes". Don't give subsidies to the rich, but don't hate them based on their wealth. Likewise, don't hate them for their wealth, but give no bailouts to them. You class envy punks: stop your arrogance, your greed, your lies, and your raping of society!!!

    Posted by Chris, 06/25/2011 9:34am (13 years ago)

RSS feed for comments on this page | RSS feed for all comments