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Should the Bush tax cuts be repealed?
Specifically, do Democrats favor repealing them for all income groups? If not, why not? Wouldn't higher taxes for everyone mean more revenue to the government?
4 Answers
- No BozosLv 710 years agoFavorite Answer
Let's run the numbers, shall we?
The top 2% taxpayers in this country pay 42% of the federal tax revenue collected. So, out of $2 trillion the federal government collect, this group pays $840 billion of it. That amount comes from them paying 34% of their adjusted income.
So, if the Bush tax cuts were repealed, their tax rate would jump to 39%, or the rate they were paying before the tax cut. Using the numbers, that would give the federal government a bump of $123 billion. If, and only if, they just paid it without hiding it or not investing, etc.
Our current annual deficit is $1.6 trillion. $123 billion wouldn't even put a dent in that, which would make the gesture of raising the tax rates a useless, and an unnecessarily aggressive, move. In other words, very little bang for the buck.
Also, EVERYONE else would see a bump in their tax rates as well. A bump that very few people below that 2% can afford right now.
At present, more than half of the taxpayers in this country pay no tax what-so-ever. About half of this group receives more in a tax refund than they paid in taxes in the first place.
As you can see, repealing the Bush tax cuts would "feel" good to a certain sector of our population, but it would actually hurt people at this juncture. This is why, darn near, EVERYONE in the federal government voted to extend them, including our President.
Source(s): You can find the tax revenue break down on the official IRS web site. - Anonymous10 years ago
The Bush tax cuts have sunset,,,we now have the 0bama tax cuts.
- Anonymous10 years ago
I would say no.