It's simple: To cut deficit, return to tax code of 2000
Ending Bush tax cuts for rich would save about $80 billion in 2013, analysts say
By Lori Montgomery, WashPost, Updated: Thursday, July 19, 12:09 PM
A Republican proposal to preserve tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest households next year would cost about $80 billion more than a Democratic proposal to extend the cuts solely for middle-class taxpayers, according to official estimates released Thursday.
The GOP measure, introduced by Senate Republicans, would devote an additional $50 billion to retaining the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for taxpayers in the top two tax brackets. Reducing the estate and gift tax, which disproportionately benefits the wealthy, would eat up another $31 billion, according to cost estimates by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.
All told, the Republican measure would add $300 billion to next year’s budget deficit, the JCT said.
A competing Democratic proposal to extend the Bush tax cuts only on income under $250,000 would increase the deficit by about $223 billion next year. Democrats would devote an additional $27 billion to extending a variety of other middle-class tax cuts, including a credit for college tuition and an expanded credit for the working poor, bringing the total cost of the measure to about $250 billion.
The Bush tax cuts, enacted in 2001 and 2003, are set to expire Dec. 31. Democrats have threatened to let them all go unless Republicans abandon their push to preserve the cuts for taxpayers in the top brackets. With the release of the new cost estimates, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) questioned the wisdom of that position.
(More here.)
A Republican proposal to preserve tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest households next year would cost about $80 billion more than a Democratic proposal to extend the cuts solely for middle-class taxpayers, according to official estimates released Thursday.
The GOP measure, introduced by Senate Republicans, would devote an additional $50 billion to retaining the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for taxpayers in the top two tax brackets. Reducing the estate and gift tax, which disproportionately benefits the wealthy, would eat up another $31 billion, according to cost estimates by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.
All told, the Republican measure would add $300 billion to next year’s budget deficit, the JCT said.
A competing Democratic proposal to extend the Bush tax cuts only on income under $250,000 would increase the deficit by about $223 billion next year. Democrats would devote an additional $27 billion to extending a variety of other middle-class tax cuts, including a credit for college tuition and an expanded credit for the working poor, bringing the total cost of the measure to about $250 billion.
The Bush tax cuts, enacted in 2001 and 2003, are set to expire Dec. 31. Democrats have threatened to let them all go unless Republicans abandon their push to preserve the cuts for taxpayers in the top brackets. With the release of the new cost estimates, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) questioned the wisdom of that position.
(More here.)
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