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Subscribe to RSSThe general election is shaping up to be a fight over the middle class. Both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the GOP frontrunner, have continuously argued in speeches that their policies would most help the middle class.
But Romney’s argument took a hit last night, undercut by a detailed analysis by nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that showed Romney’s plan focuses tax cuts on the rich, while cutting taxes marginally for the middle class. It also would effectively raise taxes on those making less than $40,000 a year, the analysis found, when tax cuts put in place by Obama would be allowed to expire.
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"If I'm going to use precious dollars to reduce taxes, I want to focus on where the people are hurting the most, and that's the middle class," Romney said at an Oct. 11 debate. “"I'm not worried about rich people. They are doing just fine. The very poor have a safety net; they're taken care of. But the people in the middle, the hard-working Americans, are the people who need a break. And that is why I focused my tax cut right there."
On Oct. 5, he said the middle class was a victim of “friendly fire” from Obama, who contends he is a “warrior for the middle class.” “If that's the case, I think there has been a severe case of friendly fire,” Romney said. “Because he has not done what the middle class of America needs to have a prosperous and bright future. In fact almost everything he did has hurt the middle class."
But those are increasingly difficult arguments to make when, under Romney’s plan, those making more than $1 million a year would see a tax cut of about $146,000, a 6.9 perent change in after-tax income, while those making between $50,000 and $75,000 would see just an average tax cut of about $250, just a 3.3 percent change, according to the center’s analysis.
In fact, not only is the amount of after-tax income greater the higher the income level, but the percent change also increases the more money someone makes.
The Romney campaign takes issue with the analysis, especially considering these assumptions in the center’s analysis: “TPC’s analysis measures the change in tax liabilities against two alternative baselines: current law, which assumes that the 2001-10 tax cuts all expire in 2013 as scheduled, and current policy, which assumes that the 2011 law is permanent (except for the one-year payroll tax cut and temporary investment incentives). Compared with the current law baseline, the Romney plan would cut taxes for about three-fourths of taxpayers by an average of more than $4,700. In contrast, compared with current policy, about 13 percent of tax units would see their 2015 taxes go up an average of more than $900 while 42 percent would get tax cuts averaging nearly $2,900.”
Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an email: “Mitt Romney has not proposed raising taxes. In fact, he laid out a blueprint for governing that includes dramatic spending cuts to reduce the deficit and pro-growth tax policies that permanently extend the Bush tax cuts, dramatically cut the corporate tax rate to create jobs, and deliver real tax relief to middle-income taxpayers. President Obama has raised taxes 19 times, stunting our economic growth and leading us further down the path toward a European-style entitlement society.”
Here’s how the numbers break down from the Tax Policy Center’s table:
Less than $10,000: $112 increase
$10,000-$20,000: $191 increase
$20,000-$30,000: $126 increase
$30,000-$40,000: $14 increase
$40,000-$50,000: $27 cut
$50,000-$75,000: $249 cut
$100,000-$200,000: $1,146 cut
$200,000-$500,000: $5,195 cut
$500,000-$1 million: $19,853
$1 million or more: $145,568
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What a shocker... Romney is part of the top 1%... So why wouldn't he want the taxes to benefit him? I hope this country wakes up soon... We are losing ground every single day that this do nothing congress is in control of the house...
Romney is for Wall street not Main street...
Of Course, was there a doubt? Cut taxes on the wealthiest and raise taxes on those that can least afford to live day to day. I love the direction America is heading, elite class and the rest that support them, instead of socialism as the GOP like to holler, it is becoming a Monarchy...
If we asked the 47% who pay nothing in federal income taxes to pay just $10 per year, it would be a tax increase. At least they would be contributing to the federal income tax coffers.
perhaps we could then also ask G.E., Exxon-Mobile, Bank of America (I could go on and on), perhaps if they actually paid any taxes and did not collect refunds from the IRS totaling in the Billions, we could contribute to the income tax coffers. In 2009 I paid more than all of these companies and 25 more of the largest corporations in America combined. Tell me that would not make a dent!
In the Senate debates during the debt ceiling fiasco, this corporate welfare is a $1.5 Trillion annual giveaway, that would make a huge difference don't you agree? Much more so than taxing the lowest paid in the Country.
Everyone pays some taxes. There are still property taxes, state income taxes, payroll taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes and excise taxes, just to name a few.
"If we asked the 47% who pay nothing in federal income taxes to pay just $10 per year, it would be a tax increase."
And you would earn less than 0.001 of the deficit. Yeah!
The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy ($700 billion) is about equal to the entire net worth (not just income) of those lower 47%. There is a reason we don't tax poor people more. THEY DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY.
jock: The middle class enjoyed a larger tax (percentage-wise) cut than the wealthy. Oh, and by the way, they are called the Obama tax rates now - remember, he signed the law that extended them.
Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL
Of course they would - they always take care of their own!
This is considered news? lol
If Willard wins, 99% of America can once again bend over & grab their ankles!
**************************************************************
Lean Forword?
I'm for it...
1/2 the pop doesn't pay taxes now!!!
Anything that would help them pay" their fair share " I'm all for. Let them see how it feels to contribute.
No one who works should be exempt. Get some skin in the game. You owe more than you think for your freedom.
Maybe they would pay more attention to who's screwing who.
RP
Everyone that works (legally) pays taxes. Do you really think that raising taxes on the people living below the poverty line would make a difference? Perhaps if the rich did not get the special favors people like Romney would give them and they paid the same % of Taxes that I do without all the loopholes and write offs, we would be able to balance the budget and reduce the debt along with spending cuts. The formula works, it did under Clinton, they balanced the budget 4 times under Clinton, raise revenue and cut spending and welfare reform.
Rob
Sorry, I didn't specify FEDERAL Taxes. Thought you new that.
And, it's a very special favor to live here and not pay FEDERAL tax.
And to balance the budget, with obama, you'll probably need a Rep congress like clinton had.
RP, The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy ($700 billion) is about equal to the entire net worth (not just income) of that poorest half. There is a reason we don't tax poor people more. THEY DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY.
jock
Clear this up because alot of people think it's the obama tax cuts. Which is it?
Because, if it's the obama tax cuts, shouldn't you be directing your scorn at him?
This is much ado about nothing. Of course when a percentage is reduced, those who make more get to keep more. X% of a lot is more than X% of a little.
Go--The article notes that the percentage of tax relief for those making a million plus is greater than the percentage of tax relief for the middle class. 6.9% tax cut for the wealthy; 3.3% for the middle class. Your premise appears to be flawed.
Yes Go USA, and that is true of every tax proposal that has ever been introduced by anyone. Ever.
Old Vet: My premise isn't flawed. How much ($ amount) is enough to take from someone? How much (%) is enough? Why should one American pay more than his/her neighbor? Don't we all enjoy the same protections? Or do you think that those who make more should also pay more for milk at the grocery? I really think that all who work should contribute to the federal income tax revenue. If you make $1, you pay a dime. If you make $1M you pay $100,000. The sad thing is that there would still be people who thought the American who paid $100,000 still didn't pay enough. Taxation isn't about how much the government "lets" you keep, as that is not a valid reason for taxation. Taxation is only legal for the support of legitimate functions of government.
"The very poor have a safety net; they're taken care of"
This is insulting and shows the true disconnect between those who have an abundance and those on the edge of abject poverty.
Romney, and many Republicans, simply don't get it and probably never will.
To be so poor as to not pay taxes is not to be envied or villified...it is a testement to the greed with wich we as Americans are supposed to admire.
Half of Americans now officially live in poverty. Yet we are by FAR the richest nation in the world...shame!
What passes for poverty in this country is abundance in most of the rest of the world.
By the way, your numbers are off my a large factor. 46.2 million of the roughly 315 million in the US are classified as living below the poverty level. That's about 14.7%.
(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html?pagewanted=all)
It isn't greed to want to keep what one earns. It is, however, envy to want what another earns for oneself.
Not sure about your nytimes article, but there is an abundance of other articles that show the Census data to be 1 in 2 Americans live at or below the poverty line.
Would you call not having to pay FEDERAL tax a safety net?
And 1/2 of people aren't at poverty level. OWS freak.
RP--Poor people in this country pay federal taxes--gasoline tax, excise taxes, wage taxes, etc. Because of the way the tax code is written, they may not have to pay federal income tax, just like some huge corporations with monstrous profits don't have to pay federal income tax.
So you are equating poor people with job providers?
If a poor person gives me a job, I'll fight for his right not to pay ( once again ) FEDERAL taxes.
The taxes from you pay check... those kind of FEDERAL taxes.
I'm not talking about federal park taxes or gas, or excise.
Learn the terminology and follow the article closer. Maybe you won't be confused.
RP--"Job providers" are consumers. Every poor person who buys something gives you a job. Or, to put it another way, where are the buggy whip job providers? Lots of people owned buggy whip manufacturing firms. They're all gone now because there's no demand. Consumption creates demand, demand creates jobs. If there are no consumers, there is no demand and without demand, there are no jobs. That's basic economics. Beyond that, no rich person ever "gave" anyone a job. The rich hire others to produce things to meet demand and provide profits for the rich. They're not giving anyone anything.
RP
Since you can use a computer and post on this site, I will assume that you can search in your web browser.
Type in Census Data and poverty in America.
If a family doesn't make enough money to pay federal taxes you think that is a safety net? Really?
Fascinating...you are an excellent example of what is wrong with this country. You have no clue how hard the typical American is working just to get by as best they can with the meager incomes that are available.
RP: "So you are equating poor people with job providers?"
In a way, yes. Poor people pay nearly 100% of their income into back the economy. That spending creates demand. Demand creates jobs. Rich people create no jobs if there is no demand.
Di
So I guess you're ok with paying them extra just for being here!!!
Wow, now I have a clue. Lib dem. I get it now.
RP
Your attempts at labeling me are amusing.
I will however refrain from trying to label you.
My perspective comes from working hard my entire life, raising six kids who struggle hard in todays depression, and watching as the middle class continue to get squeezed while the richest and most powerful in America get Bailout after handout after corporate welfare.
It is insane and must stop, or America will truly decline.
jock
So poor people (who don't have any money ) spend there money on things that create jobs???
But, then again, I hear that if you tax ( take ) money from people so they don't have as much, that creates jobs too.....
Explain!
di
So the answer is obama? Wow
"that permanently extend the Bush tax cuts, dramatically cut the corporate tax rate to create jobs, and deliver real tax relief to middle-income taxpayers"
Okay, got the part about permanently extending the Bush tax cuts, and dramatically cutting the corporate tax rate. I'd like a few more details on the "real tax relief" for the middle-income taxpayers. Not republican or democrat, so if anyone has the answer to this, I'd be interested in your perspective.
the funny part about:
It is true the corporate tax rate in the US is at 35% and it is AMONG the highest in the world and people love to yell this from the mountain tops. However the plain truth is that they do NOT actually pay 35%. Loopholes, write offs, subsidies..... the average corporate tax actually paid is just below 13%, not the 35% on the books...
Annie--I don't expect many details from the Romney campaign regarding "real tax relief to middle-income taxpayers." I do expect obscuration.
Thanks, Old Vet. Thought it was me. I tried to find something that would clarify that and couldn't. Thought it was just my way of searching. Maybe someone will "show me the way" so I can read up on it.
Well, that would mean that the US Census data is wrong....look it up.
So poverty in say Europe or Canada is much worse poverty than here? Interesting.
All I can say, is that, I have been a devout GOP... untill now. GO Dem"s
I was a dem before obama. Go GOP.
I would guess that both of you are lying. People don't change that fast, over so very little.
I am shocked, shocked I tell you!! Who would imagine that Mitt-Corporations-Are-People Romney would have a tax plan benefiting the rich at the cost of greater budget deficits? Who would have thought?
This is Romney's plan, and like all the GOP candidates, they want to protect the rich, blame the poor and working poor. They want to cut benefits, do away with all regulations, EPA etc. Anything that doesn't give big business free reign, in their eyes is bad. Look at the fit they are having over the Consumer Protection Agency, they don't care about about the average American. They cry foul, and say it's redistribution of wealth, well that has been going on for the last 30years. Tax's are at an all time low, and their not willing to raise them just a little on the most wealthy, for the good of the Country, no they would rather do that on the backs of the poor, elderly and children. Why are so many people buying in to these lies? Fox News(faux noise) is that it?
I keep thinking: "Are Americans REALLY that stupid that they would elect such an abject liar as Romney or practically any other of the present Rupublican litter?" Surely not, I think...then I remember they re-elected Bush II (who had a 58% favorability in the polls at this equivalent time...after HE was president when 9-11 occurred....doesn't anyone hold him responsible for that?) and I get sad.
I realize that politicians say lies practically all the time, but when I hear what comes out of Romney's mouth, I think he's getting pretty close to libeling Obama, plus I wonder why no one calls him on his BS, given how badly the Republicans messed up our economy just a few years ago. I'm not into conspiracy theories, but sometimes I wonder if the Republicans are deliberately causing the wealth of the nation to be concentrated in the top 1% and so have their own "Royalty" of a sorts that runs the country behind the scenes. Not that they don't do it to a greater or lesser degree presently, but now it is becoming much more obvious.
Of course, since I think future wars may be fought more economically rather than with bombs (watch out for China, they are already doing that - did you note how they caused out solar companies to be bankrupted since theirs had more government support; very smart they are, says Yoda), then perhaps the top 1% are better at leading in this sort of engagement than the average Middle Class Joe?
Yeah, it pained me to see Bush re-elected...my faith in the collective wisdom of America took a hit that year...after what the Republicans have done to this country with 8 years of Bush one would think that we would have learned a lesson...but such is polotics.
It will be an interesting election year.
If Obama can hold off the repub candidate ( and I don't see any that can really hold a candle to him ) and if the repubs lose BADLY in the House and Senate ( which I believe may happen because most Americans see them for what they are, a tool of the Military Industrial corporate structure )
then...
Maybe we can get some sh*t done to help the middle class.
Caveat...the dems already had at one time this enviable position, and failed miserably to to anything with it...so who knows, maybe not.
Can you belive this! A Mexican Romney corporate puppet and he wanted to see President Obama's birth certificate !!! Now that he has been exposed as the taxer of the middle class and the tax-cutter for the rich, he may as well hang it up! He won't get any of the American People of the United States votes and that's at least 99%, get it? 99% for the wealthy and one percent for the American People of the United States. If this is what the Republican Corporates are trying to do, what ever happened to Democracy? It's time for change and that change is NOW, NOT LATER, BUT RIGHT NOW !!!! Look what's happening with our gas prices, the WallStreeter Corporates kept the price down during the Holidays so, we, The American People of the United States could spend our nickels and dimes for the corporates and now that the season is over, all of a sudden Iran is causing our gas prices to go crazy! What a farce! It's not bad enough that the corporate banks took our homes and then we bail them out ! What in the world is going on!!! They have our gas money, our house money; now we have no more middle class! Wowee! What's next???
Romney, by the way, since we now know you are of Mexican desent and you are for the rich, just forget about coming to South Carolina. We'll tell Our Illustrious Governor that you couldn't make it and she can do it alone.
Romney is a sorry piece of sh!t.
If you are middle class and want a tax increase, while the rich get a bigger tax break, then go ahead and vote for Mitt, because it's a free country for now.
job
Do you think dems are stupid . They know it's dem presidents that always give tax breaks.
Yah, let's forget 80 years of history. Wow, you have people that think dems give tax breaks. God help us.
RP, Obama cut taxes. You are currently paying less taxes under Obama than you did under Bush.
We as a nation are much better off having President Obama than any of these Republicans running.
jock
Oh, you mean the stealing of future social security.
That doesn't sound right.
I mean, can't we just skip all of these identical news stories and call a spade a spade. Namely:
There you go MSNBC. Now you can fire literally 1/3 of your political staff writers. I'll take my consulting fee in immediately available funds via wire transfer. Contact me separately for wiring instructions.
Well, apparently it still needs to be said, because people keep voting for them.
The wealthiest would benefit most under Romney's plan. In other news, the sun will rise in the east tomorrow.
The Republican mantra is starve the poor with taxes, and feed the wealthy with NO taxes. It is a very simple platform that the Republicans use over and over but dress it up with fancy words. The result is what we see happened when Bush took our country into depths of recession needlessly for the sake of giving welfare to the wealthy. If the Republicans would do their job and stop this wealth protectionism they might survive the next election but they won't because they have that famous path of obstructionism that led this country to the depths that they created. Ninety nine percent of the public get NO representation when they elect a Republican and the people will remember that this next election.
It is simpler than that. The Republicans think the wealthy elite (i.e. aristocracy) deserve to run the country, because they are naturally superior.
Joe,
Collective memory is so short. People somehow get amnesia when it comes to defending the Republican views on Taxes.
Two simple examples illustrate...
Huge tax cuts (still in effect) for Big Oil during a period when the Oil companies were making (and still are) HUGE (record) profits from American gas consumers.
Quickly and with little fanfare extending the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy, but when faced with extending tax cuts for the average Joe, suddenly balking and gnashing of teeth about deficit reduction.
There are many more, but it would take too much time to list.
But everybody knows mr grover's stable of presidential candidates have been bought & paid for the by upper 1%. It's just that mr grover, the gop, and the rushbo don't mention it very much or hardly at all. Paying no capital gains tax for instance when some make $24B/year.
The Wealthy would benefit even more...hell they are already benefiting handsomely from the last 30 years of low tax rates...
The 99% can continue to allow the Political Whores to work for the 1% or they can take any and all actions necessary to change the current corrupted system....
fiscal conservatives are all liars you're guys are big spender's that dont want the people you don't like to get money but have your hands out for your's....you'll take your social security that ponzi scheme ha ha or that socialistic medicare...ha...
Marc, Republicans do want to keep SS and Medicare. Even my liberal Democrats friends agree SS is a ponzi scheme and runs on the same principles as Madoff's stuff. They also agree Medicare will be broke shortly without reform and politicians that deny this stuff are being less than honest.
That's the Republican position.
Protect and foster the millionaires.
Screw the middle class and the low income.
47 percent don't pay taxes income taxes because they don't make enough ,,,they put there money back into the economy,,,they pay all other taxes sales property etc etc everything put income taxes......duh and there money fuels the economy by spending it all....that seniors and low income people...dude you oh they don't pay taxes peoplee can't be any dumber.....consumer spending 2/3 of the economy....that why tax cuts are better that traget middle and lower class people...because it is returned to the economy.....your plan to tax them only hurts the u.s. economy....they pay all other taxes....
marc
You mean obama tax cuts. not.