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JCT Data: GOP Holding Middle Class Tax Cuts Hostage for $74,505 Tax Break for Millionaires

July 23, 2012

WASHINGTON – Distributional data from the Joint Committee on Taxation shows that Republicans are willing to hold hostage an extension of middle- and lower-income tax cuts so that the average millionaire benefits to the tune of $74,505 in 2013 alone. The data shows just how dramatically an extension of all of the Bush tax cuts would be tilted toward the nation’s highest earners, with the average millionaire’s tax break growing to $188,407 a year by 2021. What’s more, the data highlights that 81% of the high-income Bush tax cuts – those on income above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples – goes to millionaires. Meanwhile, the typical American worker would see his or her tax cut of about $1,000 extended.

Democrats are calling for an immediate extension of the Bush tax cuts for households with income below $250,000. Republicans, however, are holding hostage tax cuts for more than 98 percent of Americans so that the top 2 percent keep their tax breaks. JCT’s distributional analysis of a permanent extension of all of the Bush tax cuts is available here. JCT’s distributional analysis of a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts for individuals with income below $200,000 and households with income below $250,000 is available here. 

“An extension of the high-end Bush tax cuts would continue to reap a tremendous windfall on the very wealthiest and push our nation much deeper into debt,” said Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin. “It is far past time for Republicans to stop asking the middle class and nation’s seniors to bear the burden of deficit reduction and ask the very wealthiest to make a much-needed contribution.”

KEY FINDINGS FROM JCT DISTRIBUTIONAL ANALYSIS:

 

  • The average millionaire would see a tax cut of $74,505 in 2013 if all of the Bush tax cuts were extended. That yearly cut would grow to $188,407 by 2021.

  • The average American with pre-tax earnings between $50,000 and $75,000 would see their tax cut of $1,034 extended under the Democratic proposal.

  • 81% of the high-income Bush tax cuts go to households with incomes over $1 million.