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TAX CUTS DO NOT PAY FOR THEMSELVES It's a historical fact that borrowing money to fund huge tax cuts, military buildups, and wars has drastically increased the National Debt and exacerbated the Income Tax Inequality since Reagan took office in 1981! Many fact-check links to government documents, including page numbers, are provided to show that the numbers presented here are real! GOP RECORD ON TAX CUTS AND THE ECONOMY President Bush inherited a $236 BILLION SURPLUS from President Clinton and then eight years later on January 20th, 2009 handed President Obama the worst recession since the Great Depression and a Congressional Budget Office projected $1.2 TRILLION DEFICIT (-8.5% GDP) for Fiscal Year 2009 in this January 2009 report page 11 that came out before the inauguration. This was the largest increase in deficit since World War II and much worse than the 1934 deficit of -5.9% GDP at the height of the Great Depression. Under Bush, Republicans borrowed money to fund large tax cuts while the country was fighting two costly wars, running up huge National Debt. After six years of almost total Republican control of the Federal Government from January 2001 to January 2007, the U.S. ended up with an economic disaster, soaring debts, and millions of job losses. The sad truth is every single penny of the so-called "Tax Cuts" since Reagan took office in 1981 has been "Borrowed Debt" for the future generations to pay back.  Sources Only TWICE in the past 100 years have the Republicans had control of the White House, the Senate, and the House at the same time for MORE THAN TWO YEARS, resulting in the two worst economic disasters during this period: The Great Depression 1929-39: The GOP ran all three branches of the Federal Government from January 1921 to January 1931, cutting the Top Income Tax rate to 25% and the Corporate and Capital Gains rates to around 12%. With banking regulations practically nonexistent, the Great Depression started 9 years later in 1929. After the Great Crash of 1929, the Republicans under Hoover did little to rescue the economy, allowing a deep recession to snowball into the Great Depression. The Great Recession 2007-present: The GOP once again ran the Federal Government for MORE THAN TWO YEARS from January 2001 to January 2007, borrowing money to lower the Top Income and Corporate Tax rates to 35% and cutting the Capital Gains rate to 15.7%. With most of the banking regulations put in place since the Great Depression systematically removed, the worst recession since the Great Depression started in 2007, and millions of Americans are still struggling today. The two worst economic disasters in the past 100 years happened when taxes and banking regulations were at or near the lowest levels, yet the Republicans are still pursuing the same economic policies, seeking to borrow money to fund more tax cuts and to reduce the banking regulations put in place since Bush left office - the banking regulations aim to prevent another financial disaster. INCOME TAX INEQUALITY Billionaire Warren Buffett wrote an article titled Stop Coddling the Super-Rich, in which he argued against giving extraordinary tax breaks to the Mega-Rich while most Americans struggle to make ends meet. He pointed out that he paid a17.4% tax rate on $40 million TAXABLE EARNINGS while the 20 people in his office who made far less paid an average of 36%. In fact, Tax Policy Center report shows that 18,000 families or individuals with earnings over $500,000 paid no INCOME tax to the IRS in 2011. The reason many people (not all) who make over $1 million a year pay far lower tax rates on their TAXABLE INCOME than their middle-class counterparts is because most of their earnings come from Capital Gains taxed at 15% and the rest from SALARY taxed at 35%. On the other hand, the majority of Americans earn mainly SALARY taxed at, for singles, 10% ($0-8K), 15% ($8-34K), 25% ($34-82K), 28% ($82-172K), 33% ($172-374K), and 35% ($374K+). So a person with $34,000 TAXABLE INCOME from SALARY will already pay a much higher tax rate, 25%, than the 17.4% Warren Buffett paid on $40 million TAXABLE INCOME. INCOME TAX INEQUALITY WILL WORSEN UNDER GOP TAX PLAN Paul Ryan's GOP Roadmap plans to eliminate the Capital Gains Tax completely and lower the Top Income rate to 25%. This will reduce Warren Buffett's overall tax rate from 17.4% down to an ESTIMATED 3% and cut Mitt Romney's to 0% if passed. Here's how these ROUGH ESTIMATES were calculated to illustrate the potential impact: In order for Warren Buffett to pay 17.4% tax rate in 2009, no more than 12% of his TAXABLE INCOME could have been taxed at the Top Income rate of 35%: (12% income from Salary X 35% Top Income Tax rate = 4.2%) + (88% income from Capital Gains X 15% Top Capital Gain rate = 13.2%) = 17.4% Buffett paid in 2009 (12% income from Salary X 25% Top Income Tax rate = 3.0%) + (88% income from Capital Gains will no longer be taxed = 0%) = 3% Buffett will pay under GOP Roadmap In order for Mitt Romney to pay 13.9% tax rate in 2010, pretty much 0% of his TAXABLE INCOME could have been taxed at the Top Income rate of 35%: (0% income from Salary X 35% Top Income Tax rate = 0%) + (100% income from Capital Gains X 15% Top Capital Gain rate = 15%) = 15% Romney paid 13.9% in 2010 (0% income from Salary X 25% Top Income Tax rate = 0%) + (100% income from Capital Gains will no longer be taxed = 0%) = 0% Romney will pay under GOP Roadmap On the other hand, any taxpayer with $1 TAXABLE SALARY will pay a 10% tax rate. GOP Income Tax Table: 10% (Single $0-$50,000) (Joint $0-$100,000) 25% (Single $50,000 and over) (Joint $100,000 and over) GOP FOX NEWS MISLEADING CLAIM - HALF OF AMERICANS PAY NO TAXES GOP Fox News has misleadingly claimed that "HALF OF AMERICANS PAY NO TAXES" when in fact 82% paid PAYROLL taxes (Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment) in 2011 and 54% paid INCOME tax based on Tax Policy Center report. Only 18% paid no PAYROLL and INCOME taxes in 2011. Although 46% of Americans had no TAXABLE INCOME left in 2011 after taking eligible tax credits and deductions (family, education, Sales Tax, Property Tax, mortgage interests... etc.), majority of them held jobs and paid PAYROLL taxes. Tax Policy Center charts show who the 46% are: - 28% of Americans who held low-paying jobs and paid only PAYROLL taxes - soldiers, minimum-wage earners... etc. - 10% are elderly retirees living on Social Security they had paid into while working. They are not getting something for nothing. - 7% are people with less than $20,000 incomes - students, veterans, people with disabilities… etc. - 361,000 families or individuals with incomes between $100K-$200K. - 54,000 families or individuals with incomes between $200K-$500K. - 14,000 families or individuals with incomes between $500K-$1 million. - 4,000 families or individuals with incomes over $1 million. The U.S. Census shows that the 10 states with the highest percentages of "non-payers" are: - Alabama - Arkansas - Florida - state with the highest retiree population - Georgia - Idaho - Louisiana - Mississippi - New Mexico - South Carolina - Texas CORPORATE INCOME TAX LOOPOLES Using overseas tax shelters to hide U.S. profits, G.E. paid no taxes to the IRS in 2009 on $10.8 billion worldwide profit and did it again in 2010 on $14 billion worldwide earnings. Exxon Mobil also paid no taxes to the IRS in 2009 on a record $45.2 billion worldwide profit. GOP Roadmap plans to replace the Corporate Income Tax, currently topping at 35%, with a substantially lower 8.5% Business Consumption Tax. The Corporate Income Tax generated an estimated $201 billion federal revenue in 2011. No details are available to estimate how much revenue the 8.5% Business Consumption Tax will bring in. REPUBLICAN ROADMAP Despite the fact that the country is facing a projected $1.4 trillion deficit this year, the Republicans seek to pass more than $400 billion worth of new tax cuts. Here's the list posted on the House-Republican web site:
GOP Income Tax Table: 10% (Single $0-$50,000) (Joint $0-$100,000) 25% (Single $50,000 and over) (Joint $100,000 and over) To pay for these new tax cuts and reduce the ballooning National Debt as a direct result of Republican's "Borrow-Money-To-Fund-Tax-Cuts-&-Wars” economic policies, the GOP wants to eliminate the Department of Education or reduce it substantially, cut education programs, fire countless poor- to- middle-class workers, cut funding to Medicaid, and turn Medicare into a voucher program. WAKE UP PEOPLE! Think about it. What kind of FAMILY VALUE is it, voting for TAX CUTS 100% borrowed and then force your own children to pay back the debt + interests! What kind of PATRIOTISM is it, supporting going to war in Iraq, spending over $1 trillion, chasing weapons of mass destruction, nation building, and then refuse to pay for the war, passing the TOTAL costs to the children generation and ruining the U.S. economy! What kind of RELIGIOUS VALUE is it, reducing aids to the poor to fund tax cuts to the Super-Rich! TAX CUTS sound great, but not if they are borrowed debts. WAKE UP PEOPLE! Actions and records speak louder than political spins and partisan attacks so FACT CHECK, STAY INFORMED, and VOTE SMART! U.S. Government figures in millions of dollars:
Sources: Surplus/Deficit: page 21-23 of the White House document Historical Tables National Debt: U.S. Department of the Treasury Historical Debt Tables GDP numbers receive minor updates yearly; however, the tiny changes won't alter the graphs in any noticeable way: GDP prior to 2001: page 24-25 of the White House document 2009 Historical Tables * GDP from 2001-2010: page 24-25 of the White House document 2012 Historical Tables ** GDP from 2011-2012: page 24-25 of the White House document 2013 Historical Tables |
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