America For Purchase

On January 1, 2006, the Republican Congress passed two tax breaks, known as the Bush Tax Cuts.  The tax codes eliminated were the Pease provision and the personal exemption phase-out provision (PEP).  Both were originally passed in 1990 by President Bill Clinton in an effort to reduce the deficit. 

President Clinton’s legislation was extremely effective and added to the successful surplus in the government’s coffers before George Bush took office and ran America’s money ‘into the ground’.  Mr Bush not only squandered America’s money well managed by Clinton, but as of this writing, Mr. Bush took American into the ‘red’ by burdening Americans with adding $9 TRILLION to a debt that was non-existent under Bill Clinton.

The Bush tax cuts eliminated provisions of the tax code that limited the amount of personal exemptions and itemized deductions that American with high incomes can take. (Tax break for America’s Rich).  Over the course of five years since Bush’s tax cuts went into effect, the cost to Americans has been approximately $27 billion, according to a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  Ironically, Republicans in Congress, only two weeks before the tax cuts took effect, voted to reduce domestic spending on programs affecting the poor and the middle class by $39 billion over the next five years. (The rich get richer, the poor get poorer “Thanks Republicans”)

Specifically, the Pease provision reduced the amount of deductions for those who itemized and had incomes exceeding $145,950.  the total amount of itemized deductions wealthy taxpayers could claim was reduced by 3 percent of the the amount by which their incomes exceeded $145,950.  Similarly, the PEP provision of the tax code phased out personal exemptions for the wealthy.

The Joint Commission on Taxation estimated that over the next 13 years, the Bush Tax breaks for the wealthy will deprive the country of $197 billion in revenue.  And a study by the Brookings Institution determined that 97 percent of the Bush Tax breaks will go to those households with incomes above $200,000.  And more than half of these breaks will benefit the 0.2% of families with annual incomes exceeding $1million.  Once these tax cuts are fully implemented in 2010, the average millionaire will save a minimum of $19,000 annually in taxes.

 

Only 3 percent of families with annual incomes of less that $200,000 have received any benefit from these tax breaks.  Families with yearly incomes between $100,000 and $200,000 have received an average tax cut of only $25!  And families earning less that $100,000 – the vast majority of Americans – have not benefited at all!

Shortly before Bush’s tax cuts became effective, Republicans in Congress approved massive domestic budget cuts, depsite objections by Democrats.  Republicans insisted that ‘tough choices’ had to be made in an effort to reduce the growing debt, which Republicans caused.  Consequently, they voted to cut $11 billion over the next five years from Medicaid, the health care system that serves America’s poor.  Substantial reductions were also made in childcare assistance, which will result in 255,000 fewer children living in poverty receiving federal assistance.  How ironic, since the Bush Administration has run up record breaking deficits and national debt, and Republicans have robbed American taxpayers with additional record breaking ‘pork barrel’ spending!  GIVE ME A FREAKING BREAK!  The are the tax cuts supported by John McCain.

Congressional Republicans have cut more than $343 million in funding for foster care programs, including reductions that would make it more difficult for grandparents who are raising their grandchildren to receive assistance.  Over $12 billion was cut from federal college loan programs, makiing it more difficult for poor and middle-class Americans to afford a college education – and these cuts continue today and John McCain will continue them as well.

According to a new Congressional study, families earning more than $1 million a year have seen their federal tax rates drop more sharply that any group in the country as a result of the McCain supported Bush Tax Cuts.

This study, by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, also shows that tax rates for middle-income earners edged up in 2004, the most recent year for which data was available, while rates for people at the very top continued to decline.

Based on an exhaustive analysis of tax records and census data, the study reinforced the sense that while Mr. Bush’s Tax custs reduced rates for people at every income level, they offered the biggest benefits by far to the people at the very top, especially the top 1 percent of income earners.

Put another way, the richest Americans are the undisputed winners of the Bush / McCain tax cuts!

The wealthy pay about 17% in taxes, while those making under $100,000 pay upwards of 28-33%.

Democratic leaders have taken pains to avoid an immediate fight over the tax cuts, most of which are scheduled to expire at the end of 2010.  But Democrats are looking for ways to increase revenue before then in part because they want to spend more on education and energy without increasing the deficit, but they also know they have a huge mess to clean up after Mr. Bush and the after the Republicans raided the American tax payers.

Economists and tax analysts have long known that the biggest dollar value of Mr. Bush’s tax cuts goes to the people at the very top of the income levels.  One reason is that two of his signature measures, tax cuts on investment income and a steady reduction of estate taxes overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest households.

Tax cuts were much deeper, and affected far more money, for families in the highest income categories.  Households in the top 1 percent of earnings, which had an average income of $1.25 million say their effective tax rates drop to 19.6 percent in 2004 from 24.4 percent in 2000 and today its about 17 percent.

Mr. Bush, Mr. McCain and their Republican allies in Congress want to permanently extend these tax cuts and almost all of the others that Congress passed under ‘Georgie’s" first term.  The cost of doing that would be more than $1 trillion over the next decade, a cost that would hit the Treasury at the same time that the spending on old age benefits for retiring baby boomers begin to soar!

Bush tax cuts made absolutely no sense, except to the Republicans and wealthy Americans.  Even Warren Buffet, Bill Clinton and other wealthy Americans have spoken out against them.  Mr. Buffet pointed out that he was in a lower tax bracket than his secretary!

Should the Democrats take office, Americans can and should expect to see an increase in their taxes.  However, Mr. Obama has pledged to only increase taxes on the wealthy back to the 1990 levels under President Clinton.  He has also promosed to do away with the huge tax breaks Mr. Bush gave big oil companies, who continue to flaunt their record-breaking profits to the American public.  But in spite of that, Mr. Bush has raided the Social Security Administration Fund, borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from China, Japan, Russia and a host of other foreign countries, for whom American is now in debt to, Mr. Bush ran up a $9 tillion debt whose burden will fall ot our children and grandchildren. 

I know the super rich, those elitists like John and Cindy McCain and George Sr and George W and their families, do not care about average Americans.  They throw a few crumbs to us peasants from time to time like the stimulous plan.  They rob the poorest Americans by taking away their health care, medicaid, childcare, and give that money to big oil and other corporate entities. 

I urge every American to bombard their Congressional Representatives, to contact Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and those leaders in power and demand the Bush McCain tax cuts be rolled back and eliminated.  All Americans deserve to be treated fairly by their government. 

Write or call your representative today!

Tags America’s wealthy Bush tax breaks Bush tax cuts deficit domestic spending Iraq Iraq War John McCain national debt national deficit oil companies pork barrel religion Religious Right U S Budget U S Debt U S Deficit Washington

Filed under: George W Bush, John McCain