Friday. August 13, 2004
The Congressional Budget Office’s release today of a 27-page report, Effective Federal Tax Rates Under Current Law, 2001 to 2014, has caused a stir on the Presidential campaign trail. Here is the lead from today’s Washington Post:
Since 2001, President Bush’s tax cuts have shifted federal tax payments from the richest Americans to a wide swath of middle-class families, the Congressional Budget Office has found, a conclusion likely to roil the presidential election campaign.
The CBO study, due to be released today, found that the wealthiest 20 percent, whose incomes averaged $182,700 in 2001, saw their share of federal taxes drop from 64.4 percent of total tax payments in 2001 to 63.5 percent this year. The top 1 percent, earning $1.1 million, saw their share fall to 20.1 percent of the total, from 22.2 percent.
Over that same period, taxpayers with incomes from around $51,500 to around $75,600 saw their share of federal tax payments increase. Households earning around $75,600 saw their tax burden jump the most, from 18.7 percent of all taxes to 19.5 percent.
The Kerry campaign embraced the findings, while the Bush campaign dismissed the study as “the Democrat-requested report.”
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Recent Tax Cuts Hit Middle Class Hardest
According to a Washington Post story (subscription required), a recent study done by the Congressional Budget Office shows that recent tax cuts have benefited the top 20% of the country more than the middle class. These findings mirror what other