|
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Richest of the Rich Win With Investment Tax Cuts
Absolutely fantastic article by David Cay Johnston on the front page of the New York Times today showing how enormously skewed the Bush tax cuts on capital gains and dividends are toward the richest of the rich in America.
The Times did their own analysis of IRS data from 2003 with some shocking conclusions. A few excerpts below:
Among taxpayers with incomes greater than $10 million, the amount by which their investment tax bill was reduced averaged about $500,000 in 2003
This super-rich group of taxpayers (can you even imagine making $10 million in income in one lifetime let alone one year?) paid about the same percentage of their income in income taxes as those making between $200,000 and $500,000 because of the cuts in taxes on investments. So much for our progressive tax structure.
More from Johnston:
Americans with annual incomes of $1 million or more, about one-tenth of 1 percent all taxpayers, reaped 43 percent of all the savings on investment taxes in 2003. The savings for these taxpayers averaged about $41,400 each.
Incidentally, the $41,400 those taxpayers averaged in savings in 2003 just on their investment income is only slightly lower than the median household income in America in 2004, which was $44,389. Johnston later shares an estimate done by the ever-reliable Citizens for Tax Justice showing the average savings many of those average income households - those taxpayers making under $50,000 - received from the same investment tax cuts: $10!
Don't miss the interactive charts and graphics that accompany the article. This analysis is top notch!
Posted by Adam Hughes
|