I need help formulating a LTTE response to Kevin Brady

[joeprogressive]

In his guest column Brady tries to show that the proposed tax cuts are for average Americans. He even states the capital gains tax reduction will mostly help seniors. I want to respond but am unsure what these tax reductions mean in real terms. He states it is 56 billion in tax savings over 5 years but is most of that capital gains and income tax reduction for the wealthiest? Thanks in advance.

http://www.hcnonline.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=16227887&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532207&rfi=8

[TacticalPeek]

1. President AWOL's economics are unsound.

http://www.legalhardware.com/economics/charts.htm

[fknobbit]

2. Represents 56 billion in debts

That your great grand children will be still paying for. We are borrowing $100.000 a minute to pay for Iraq alone, and the middle class is going to pay the bill. If you believe the elderly, children and Veteran ain't going to be stiffed more...I have this bridge. Besides the Chinese will have to cut us off before another 5 yrs elapse. What is going on is we are going to be a two class nation, peons and ultra wealthy, because the middle class is on the way out.

[Wisconsin Larry]

3. While cutting $56B in taxes they also cut $50B in social programs

such as Medicaid, student loans, child support enforcement, and food stamps. But here's some numbers that may help your main argument.

"The Tax Policy Center, run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, has concluded that the bottom 80 percent of households would receive 15.8 percent of the House tax cuts' benefit. The top 20 percent would receive 84.2 percent of the benefit. Households earning more than $1 million a year would get 40 percent of the tax cuts, or an average reduction of nearly $51,000."

- Excerpt is from the Washington Post' Friday, December 9, 2005; Page A06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/08/AR2005120801350.html
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org gets you to the Tax Policy Center

And from the same article,
"But the centerpiece of the bill is the extension, through 2010, of the capital gains and dividend tax cuts, which lowered the tax rate on investment income to 15 percent, from as high as 38.5 percent. This extension alone is projected to cost $20.6 billion over five years and $50.8 billion over 10 years."

So your suspicions were correct, the wealthiest receive almost all of the cuts and of that almost half is in the capital gains and dividend tax reductions. The rest is just talking points for Repugs like Brady to try to look good.