Maddow Blog chart based on Brookings Institution and Tax Policy Center data
A new independent analysis (pdf) of Mitt Romney's tax plan should, in theory, dramatically change the nature of the election-year debate over tax policy. In short, Romney's proposal is built around a middle-class tax hike, the proceeds of which would go to give wealthy "job creators" a very generous tax cut.
Mitt Romney's plan to overhaul the tax code would produce cuts for the richest 5 percent of Americans -- and bigger bills for everybody else, according to an independent analysis set for release Wednesday.
The study was conducted by researchers at the Brookings Institution and the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, who seem to bend over backward to be fair to the Republican presidential candidate. To cover the cost of his plan -- which would reduce tax rates by 20 percent, repeal the estate tax and eliminate taxes on investment income for middle-class taxpayers -- the researchers assume that Romney would go after breaks for the richest taxpayers first.
They even look at what would happen if Republicans' dreams for tax reform came true and the proposal generated significant revenue through economic growth.
This isn't a hack-job published using worst-case scenarios; it's the opposite. The Brookings Institution and Tax Policy Center made every assumption in Romney's favor, giving him the benefit of the doubt as much as possible.
I put together the above chart by income group -- on the far left, we see those in the bottom 20%, then those in the next highest quintile, and so on. Notice that everyone's tax burden go up under Romney's vision, except those in the top 5%, who see get a generous windfall.
And here's the kicker: I had to leave off the top 0.1% of earners, because it made the chart unreadable. If you're in the bottom 80%, your tax increase under Romney would range from $128 to $1,880, but if you're in the top 0.1%, your tax break would be worth nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
President Obama will be in Mansfield, Ohio, today, and according to remarks prepared for delivery, he's going to take full advantage of the new revelations:
"[T]he centerpiece of my opponent's entire economic plan is a new, $5 trillion tax cut. A lot of this tax cut would go to the wealthiest 1% of all households. Folks making more than $3 million a year -- the top one-tenth of one percent -- would get a tax cut worth almost a quarter of a million dollars. A quarter of a million dollars.
"But it gets worse. Under my opponent's plan, guess who gets the bill for these $250,000 tax cuts? You do. And you don't have to take my word for it.
"Just today, an independent, non-partisan organization ran all the numbers. And they found that if Governor Romney wants to keep his word and pay for his plan, he'd have to cut tax breaks that middle-class families depend on to pay for your home, or your health care, or send your kids to college. That means the average middle-class family with children would be hit with a tax increase of more than $2,000.
"But here's the thing – he's not asking you to contribute more to pay down the deficit, or to invest in our kids' education. He's asking you to pay more so that people like him can get a tax cut."
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Bah! You're just looking at it wrong. What's important--as I'm sure we'll be told in the coming days, is that on average, everyone will get a tax cut. That is, if you take the total amount of tax cuts for the top five percent, and divide them by the total number of taxpayers, you'll get the amount of tax cut that, on average, every American will receive.
And thus will this become yet another objectively verifiable set of facts about Republican economic plans that are so cartoonishly evil people will dismiss them as Democratic propaganda and refuse to believe them.
Limbaugh has done precisely that in the past, hasn't he? Or was it somebody else?
If you want your 20% to be a bigger dollar amount, get a better job and earn more money. Oh yea, if you worked as hard as you cry, you would be rich.
Right. Because clearly I must be some minimum wage slacker.
You're an idiot chemdmd. Trickle down economics has been a massive failure that has destroyed the middle class. There is absolutely NO REASON that the richest country in the world should have "working poor" and people working two or three jobs to just pay rent and buy groceries. You fools who worship the rich and have no sense of history should take some very old, but very good advice from our 16th president: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
Sorry CAF, but trickle down is the default mode of capitalism. To illustrate, labor is a group of people standing around with nothing to do - until someone with an idea and the money to pursue it arrives needing help. That applies to everyone, day labor to rocket scientist.
Think about it. If your employer doesn't have money, how are they going to pay you? Are you going to volunteer to work for free? I don't think so.
chemmd, your assumptions are utterly ridiculous.
Look at all those trust fund kids, what "hard work" did they do to get rich? Paris Hilton and hard work somehow doesn't fit.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-trust-fund-baby.htm
It's already been pointed out that those making the stock selections are questionable as to "working hard", let alone "creating jobs".
chemnotanmd and Shooter(of blanks) don't understand the value of work, probably because they've never done any. They don't understand the satisfaction and joy a police officer or a nurse or a teacher or a social worker (or a LOT of other occupations) feel when they do their work EVEN THOUGH they will never become rich doing it.
chemnotanmd and Shooter(of blanks) think that a human matters ONLY by how RICH he is which is why chemnotanmd and Shooter(of blanks) are such sad representations of humanity who can only get their "jollies" by trolling!!
Shooter lives off the government.
shooter, Pope John Paul once made a statement along the line of "there is no morality in capitalism." Try thinking about what that means for awhile. It's not unamerican to think of the negative aspects of capitalism.
Trickle down economics is not the only approach to concentrating wealth in a free market.
The idea behind trickle down is that by concentrating wealth in the top income brackets, the "job creators," they will then reinvest some of the capital into the economy.
However, you can also concentrate wealth into the middle class. A more robust and wealthier middle class means more people buying, and thus money is reinvested into the economy again.
I think the past decade has been a long failed experiment proving that trickle down economics does not work, or at least it does not work very well. Primarily because you cannot be sure investors will actually take that money and invest in the US.
A more powerful middle class would serve much better in helping the US economy.
what are the axes on the graph?
On the y-axis i'd say--change in tax(what they pay now - what they will pay if his tax policy see day light).On the X-axis the percentage of population based on the tax brackets.
Like Steve says,this should infact dissolve the Romney dream.But since we live in a La La country,This doesn't count,because the hatred for the man in their White house is much more important than what the other guy's policies will do to peoples wallets.
khayyam,
the hatred that has been whipped up against Obama really is undeserved. He has been used as a diversion target so people will not learn about the reality of how the policies of Republicanism have destroyed American jobs. Allowing these banks and Wall Streeters to join forces, create a scheme for their profit and tell people-just sign here; you can get a loan from us. We no longer care about risk because we work the system to still make money AND feds will bail US out.
The offshoring has trumped any semblance of "America First". The production still high, yet the reward is take a pay cut, pension cut, health care contribution goes up- AND NO WAY can we have changes to healt care insurance, which is passing costs on and keeping profit.
So, the talking heads twist the story to make Obama the target after Congress does NOTHING for jobs in America OR keep the lie about trickle down from rich will keep the rest of us in our jobs.
But NO, don't look at that information, THEY are for Obama and you can only trust OUR reporting because of a scary name, biracial, JUST LOOK at him, he CAN'T be good for America.
But the Swiss Bank account holding, CEO - but not THEN, when Bain cut jobs (oh- don't look at that form I signed), non tax return disclosure guy that sent employees to unemployment line is who will help us. The banks and Wall Street should get a pass for all those foreclosures and tax rates for lower incomes SHOULD pay for high incomes peoples' tax cuts- now forget about the deficit and debt because we are pointing to the conspiracy of Obama and people BUY THIS?
The chart doesn't matter. Reality doesn't matter. The press will never ask Romney about the effects of his tax plan.
I mean seriously, can you imagine David Gregory asking such a question? Chuck Todd? Neither can I and they are the two most likely to ask. Wolf Blitzer? Forgetaboutit.
Well of course: "government of the [richest .1% of the] people, by the [richest .1% of the] people, and [most importantly] for the [richest .1% of the] people." Isn't that what democracy's all about?
What? The rich get huge tax cuts? How is that possible? I've been reassured here that the rich don't pay taxes. Were those people lying to me? Tsk.
Blanks,
Your post makes absolutely no sense. Really. You really have lost what little mind that you had left.
Aaair ball, Aaair ball, Aaair ball, ...
No-one said they don't pay taxes...sales tax is unavoidable. They don't pay enough income tax, and yes capital gains are indeed income. IMHO someone making 140million a year should be taxed somewhere near 90%, but I CAN see how hard it would be to get by on 14 mill a year, I mean how would they ever feed their family? STFU TROLL!
You can't spend percentages. Half the country pays 100% of nothing. Meanwhile, Romney paid $3 million last year. How much did you contribute?
Truly profound babble, blanks. Truly.
He launches another ....
Aaair ball, Aaair ball, Aaair ball, ...
My cousin contributed his life in Afghanistan , but 11% of someone elses money is to much in shooters world
Shooter....you are right. There, now someone has appeased this MORON! And,yet,he is WRONG!
A family of 4 who takes home(yes this is after taxes) $600 a week[unfortunately this is AWESOME]
Pays out $200 a week in rent(no gunfire in this hoity toity neghborhood(yet)), $90 a week for electric(this of course assuming that $ perKW/hrs don't dremaatically jump based on "job creators" moods), gas for their vehicle($50/wk if you are lucky) and essentials(tp, etc///you're right shooter just use your fingers, suck em clean, asswiped and breakfast in one step[I know you didnt say it, but you think it]) insurance for said vehicle $50 a wk
YOU get the picture.......and if you dont, you probably are sitting on a BIG PILE ov ILL BEGOTTEN $$$...... TRYING TO LIVE on under 10 dollars a day/per person in your household, is ridiculous!
"you must be stupid and/or lazy" is the only response that will come from this post,
Yes my IQ and work ethic are extremely lacking(I say as I show your child how to have any semblence of personal respect, through actual work, and teach them that hard work can pay(a percentage...yes shooter a PERCENTAGE(LIKE TAXES, AND HOW MUCH A COMPANY ACTUALLY MAKES COMPARED TO THD MONEY THEY TAKE IN, AND EXACTLY EVERY MONETIZED CALCULATION EVER MADE!)) off if we RID OURSELVES OF THESE predjudiced , southern plantation poloticing, hate mongering idiots, and their ABSOLUTELY DEBUNKED AND EMPIRICALLY RIDICULOUS excuses, plans, schemes and ideas to cause the failure of OUR nation, and return us to >the days of slavery and austeric rule. ONCE AGAIN TROLL STFU!
must be the SAM ADAMS talking, hard to stop the true PATRIOT from shouting truth from within!
Steve,
Perhaps it is necessary to provide a chart similar to the one Jared Bernstein used to illustrate the regressiveness of Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan:
http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/9-9-9-in-one-really-long-graph/
Imagine any Presidential candidate offering this sort of plan 16 years ago. Imagine any political party voting in lockstep to destroying Medicare even four years ago. Imagine any political party openly admitting their most important goal was not to legislate for positive action but to destroy its political opponents. Imagine any political party wanting to give free reign to Wall Street to gamble like they had been in causing the housing bubble, financial crisis, and Great Recession.
It's impossible to fathom the little-man flat-out meanness that is the Republican party. This is what happens when things go all to hell during something like the Great Recession and people can be fooled while they're trying to adjust. And it takes a very aggressively vicious and obnoxious group to take advantage of it to the detriment of the entire country. All the cockroaches came out of the woodwork when the problems caused by Republican ideas and policies occurred. And those cockroaches were Republicans like Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Ron Paul, his son Ayn Paul, the rebranded Christian Right (Tea Party), the old guard of the Republican party joining forces with them, and their Useful Idiot supporters.
Nauseating.
It actually came out when "candidate Obama" became President. So much for "post racialism"....
Reality makes no difference to the Republicans whose main objective is to dismantle all domestic programs and reduce the country to a third world plutocracy with a dash of theocracy.
Don't forget the repeal of womens sufferage, and the reinstatment of slavery. These folks dont care about the color of your skin, they want everyone broke and on the streets, so they can round us all up and have free labor. Hopefully my family and I can work up in the big house, maybe operating a car elevator or something. Yes Massa Mitt, Right away Massa Mitt.
The free labor is beside the point. The important thing is that once you reach the point where you can buy anything you like, the one thing more wealth gets you is power: power over people. And for that, it's at least as good to make everyone else poor as it is to make you richer.
A man who's poor but has a roof over his head and food (if not much nor fancy) on the table isn't nearly as willing to degrade himself (and perhaps sell you his children) as one whose alternative is to watch several of them starve or freeze.
Gore Vidal comes to mind - 'Its not enough that I succed. Others should fail'
Take from the middle class and working Americans while giving to the rich and powerful? If this is Mitt Romney's idea of the American Dream, I'm afraid he has no understanding of our great nation or how our economy works. Mitt's plan is essentially to give himself a big tax cut so he can actually get cash back from less fortunate taxpayers instead of paying the measly 10 percent he does now. This is totalitarian banana republic kind of stuff, where the country will forever be divided into castes based solely on wealth and worth. The notion that everyone has shot at prosperity in America? Romney wants to kill it. Principled Progressive
My dear dear people why all the fuss? Have we restarted debtor prisons? Have we turned orphanages into workhouses? Have we handed the day to day policing of the masses and taxation over to the Church? Are we riding around on luxury trains and throwing posh parties 24/7 as the peons scrape and scrounge for a bit to eat?
Puhlease! Why if not for the upper class where would you be?Who do you think owns the Government? Do you actually believe politicians would run for office if we the wealthy did not provide them the means to do so?
Now get to work and watch as we make sure minimum wage gets tossed along with OSHA. Encourage your vagabond kids to drop out of public school and go to work in some low wage job.
It is the (burb,pardon) struggle for life that makes it (hic) wortrh living!
Please use units of measure on your graphs ... took me a while to determine what you were graphing in this article. 99 what? -5000 what? A good grapher use units of measure.
PS: and I am glad you are putting the Republican-spin "job creators" in quotations as it deserves. Most people I know that earn over $500k per year in San Francisco were once employees and never started a business or created jobs. Ever. They got stock options and gambled on other tech companies thereafter. Not all wealthy people are job creators - in fact most aren't.
Well, I have to give it to him. That is indeed running the government the way businesses are run these days.
Robin Hood in reverse.
Hood robin? Robbing poor neighbor hoods to give to the rich.
I would like to see an actual team like the show "Leverage" do unto them that did it us.
My folks put their meager (all they had seems meager when compared to that Rmoney tax form to escape taxation) nest egg with "an investment guy that some people knew" that was working wonders (for a short time) like Madoff. But after showing a nice ROI, he took EVERYONE"S money to Columbia.
I fantasize about Timothy Hutton getting the team together and getting everyone's money back, plus interest. Oh, and they could take a cut.
And as the deficit goes through the roof under Romney, it will once again be blamed on the middle class. "More cuts!" Are these people idiots? States are losing out, and ultimately gutting our public funds to shove money into CEO's pockets will mean fewer police, teachers, and we'll see the middle class get torn to shreds paying more and more for roads, bridge tolls, on and on. Yeah, let's hit the Demand Creators right in the gut.
Reduce defense spending. Raise taxes on the wealthy and let's get on with things. This is so simple, and there are so many arguments for it. Corporations have more money than they know what to do with and they aren't hiring. Profits are at an all time high. Taxes are extremely low. Giving corporations more solves what? Maybe people don't realize that a lot of that profit goes straight in the pockets of the officers. Do we really want to watch our citizens suffer so that Larry Ellison can buy another plane? Or Romney another horse?
And why the F is Sheldon Addelbrain accompanying Romney on meetings with dignitaries. The whole think looked dreadful.
a thousand "ups", except for visualizing "under Romney"
Corporations are getting blasted because they are given so much leeway to operate and they ARE SUPPOSED TO create jobs for US for these perks. But they have chosen to focus upon their own profit and throw everything else under the bus.
I used to work for a huge corporation and saw the entire thing as a partnership. Until they started acting like employees were the millstone around their neck, instead of doing the work that brings success for all. Now, they treat employees like Bob Cratchet and will let contracts expire without any good reason. Their profits are up, but they cooperate with Republican agenda to "make Obama a one term president" while the rest of us wait for economy, jobs to come back locally. But no they bring their image from one of admiration to one of disdain. It doesn't have to be that way.
But these days it seems getting into Forbes' lists is all that matters.
I noticed a guy named S.Truett Cathy at Chik fil a is number 375 on the top 400 richest people in America.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/#p_1_s_arank_All%20industries_All%20states_All%20categories_
Take the blasted shadows off the columns in that graph.
Please consider labeling the units of measurement on your graph. Its a nice image, but it would do a good job of hooking the readers if the point were a little clearer.