“Many of you are well off enough that [President Bush’s] tax cuts may have helped you. We’re saying that for America to get back on track, we’re probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We’re going to have to take things away from you. We’re going to have to have to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” -Hillary Clinton, San Francisco 6/28/2004

To the best of my knowledge Hillary never elaborated in the speech she is quoted in above as to who she intends on taking from, nor how much she intends on taking. It has been a common misonception among liberals that the Bush tax cuts were tax cuts for the wealthy and should be repealed.

The Washington Times has an interesting column today which shows the outcome of those tax cuts and how much the wealthy actually pay.

In 2005, the federal government took $2.4 trillion out of the pockets of the American people. To put this number into context, it is about the same as the size of the entire U.S. economy in 1959 in inflation-adjusted terms. Only two other countries on Earth have economies as large as our federal government: Germany and Japan — and Germany just barely makes the cut, with a gross domestic product of $2.7 trillion. China, which everyone is so alarmed about, has an economy significantly smaller than the federal government, with a GDP of $1.9 trillion — about equal to what the U.S. raises just from taxes on individuals.

Contrary to popular belief, the vast bulk of federal taxes are paid by the wealthy. According to the JCT, in 2006, 53.7 percent of all federal income taxes were paid by those with incomes of more than $200,000. Those with incomes between $100,000 and $200,000 paid 28.3 percent of all individual income taxes. Thus those with incomes of more than $100,000 paid 82 percent of the total. They also paid 44.4 percent of all payroll taxes.

Those with incomes below $40,000 paid no federal income taxes at all in the aggregate; the positive liability for those who paid anything was more than offset by tax rebates from the Earned Income Tax Credit for many more who paid nothing. In total, the EITC put $41 billion into the pockets of low-income workers in 2005 — 91 percent of it was paid to those with no income tax liability. However, according to the Tax Foundation, three-fifths of Americans believe it is wrong for anyone to pay no taxes at all, that everyone should pay something to finance the government (emphasis mine)

Read the whole column entitled Tax Facts at the Washington Times, and remember it the next time someone tells you about Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy.

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Election 2008, Politics, Taxes