10 Epic Failures of the Bush Tax Cuts

[upstatecajun]

As Tax Day 2011 arrives, the distance between the tax debate and tax reality has perhaps never been larger. New data from the IRS revealed that over since the mid-1990's, the richest 400 taxpayers saw their incomes double and their tax rates halved. Overall, the gilded-class has seen its effective tax rates plummet. Meanwhile, prosecutions for tax evasion have begun to increase after years during which the Bush administration turned a blind eye to cheating by upper-income and corporate taxpayers.

Nevertheless, Republicans are proposing to double-down on the Bush tax cut windfall for the wealthy. The House GOP budget would not only make the Bush tax cuts permanent, it would lower the top rate from 35% to 25%. With the loopholes to be closed predictably remaining unspecified, Republicans would drain the U.S. Treasury of $4 trillion over the next decade. $1 trillion going to the richest people in America.

http://www.tloforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=97

[Igel]

1. Double income, half tax rate.

In other words, they're paying the same amount?

(I quip merely because there's this idea "out there" that income and tax strategies are flexible, given a few years to adjust, and flex in response to external pressures so as to ensure that the wealthy tax payer pays essentially the same amount over time.)