Newsflash: Bush administration LIES about increased tax revenues

[hfojvt]

The Bush administration and the M$M have been touting the record revenues in the last couple of years, so I decided to find out why that was the case, since I knew the Bush idiotic tax cuts for the rich had reduced Federal Revenues.

So I am checking past Treasury reports here
http://fms.treas.gov/fr/backissues.html

I get these numbers for "income tax revenue and withholding"
2006 - 1,846.1
2005 - 1,690.1
2004 - 1,572.3
2003 - 1,481.3
2002 - 1,538.6
2001 - 1,663.6
2000 - 1,635.2
1999 - 1,456.0
1998 - 1,374.2
1997 - 1,247.5

Then I got confused. Because the 1996 report gave the number as 680 or so. And I thought 'that's not right. It couldn't have doubled in just one year'.

So I check the 2001 SAUS (Statistical Abstract of the US) I have at home. I am puzzled again to see that the numbers don't match. SAUS shows 737.5 for 1997 and 828.6 for 1998.

Then it smacked me in the forehead - the treasury department is lumping income taxes and social security taxes together. :argh: :argh: :banghead:
Those fu$%ing dishonest a$$hats!!!

Worse yet. This bullsh*t started in the Clinton administration!! Way to set the stage for Grand Theft Trust Fund!!!!

So the real numbers after you subtract the FICA taxes paid by working people (which have NOT been cut BTW).

1997 - 708.3
1998 - 802.4
1999 - 844.2
2000 - 982.3
2001 - 978.1 (estimates after this until I goto the library)
2002 - 818.8
2003 - 725.5
2004 - 778.7
2005 - 856.8
2006 - 972.1

So, those "record tax revenues" produced by Republican cuts to the Income tax have actually not even returned to where they were 6 years ago and figured as a percent of GDP they are even lower.

[AndyA]

1. Just another nail in their coffin.

The Republicans lie about everything. History has proven repeatedly that they don't know how to have a strong economy. And when you add in the record, back breaking, deficits we've piled on top of everything else, our economic picture is bleak, to put it mildly.

Democrats historically for the most part have good economies, balanced tax burdens, and a budget that shows responsbile management.

And any tax increases doled out by the Dems are normally to cover spending increases and deficits by the previous REPUBLICAN controlled government.

[hfojvt]

7. It's not a nail if the lie becomes conventional wisdom

and almost nobody in the M$M or the public even knows the truth.

This piece of crap website came up pretty high on a google search for 'deficit'

http://www.federalbudget.com/

where they say crap like this

"President Bush put in tax rate cuts, the economy recovered and tax revenue is up. So it wasn't a "tax cut", because tax revenue increased. It was a tax rate cut and it worked perfectly."

More people are reading that crap without knowing that it's crap.

Maybe I should change my thread title: "Republicans cut taxes and tax revenue is up" Fact or crap?

It's crap but almpst nobody knows it any more than they know the name of the guy who invented the telescope.

[LSK]

2. the revenues have increased because some tax breaks expired

[hfojvt]

6. No, it's Grand Theft Trust Fund

Put FICA taxes in with income tax revenues. FICA tax revenues have not been cut. Because of an expanding workforce and automatic increases in the ceiling, they grow by about 6% a year. Way back in 2001 my Republican congress-a$$holes were using this to lie that the Reagan tax cuts increased tax revenue. Thanks in large part to Al Franken (see "Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot") I saw right through that and also complained to the media about taking Social Security out of reports about the "surplus". It was media gushing about the cornacopia of a 'surplus' that laid the groundwork for the Bush tax cuts. Supposedly, we could afford it. We had over-paid and were due a refund.

[tkmorris]

9. I think you misunderstood the OP

Revenues have not in fact increased, rather they have decreased significantly. They make revenues appear to have increased by including Social Security withholding in the general tax revenues total.

[applegrove]

3. Good catch!

[hfojvt]

4. I feel like I should have been on to this a long time ago

Did everyone else on DU already know this? Why am I almost off the first page? It's the numbers, isn't it? They make me look like a dork. :cry:

[applegrove]

5. It is morning. HOW bout I Kick ya and then reccommend. By the way

I went out and had a hamburger today..just my way of helping the "manufacturing" sector of the economy.

[FogerRox]

12. IIRC only one yr during Bush 43 did revenue

increase, the other 5 yrs it fell, so yeah kinda.

[Vinca]

8. That makes so much more sense. nt

[hfojvt]

10. finally made it to the library

2006 SAUS only includes estimates for 2005
year - income tax - FICA tax - GDP
1997 - 737.5 - 539.4 - 8,304.3 - 8.88%
1998 - 828.6 - 571.8 - 8,747 - 9.47
1999 - 879.5 - 611.8 - 9,268.4 - 9.49
2000 - 1,004.5 - 652.9 - 9,817 - 10.23
2001 - 994.3 - 694.0 - 10,128 - 9.82
2002 - 858.3 - 700.8 - 10,487 - 8.18
2003 - 793.7 - 713.0 - 11,004 - 7.21
2004 - 809.0 - 733.4 - 11,735 - 6.89
2005 - 893.7 - 773.7

The record level of revenues comes because FICA revenues have grown from 652.9 to 773.7 while income tax revenues have fallen from 1,004.5 to 893.7. The income tax cuts have reduced income tax revenue as predicted by Democrats.

They always try to say that tax cuts spur economic growth. Real GDP numbers make that a lie too.
Year - GDP (in 2000 dollars) - growth rate
1993 - 7,532.7 - n/a
1994 - 7,835.5 - 4.0%
1995 - 8,031.7 - 2.5%
1996 - 8,328.9 - 3.7%
1997 - 8,703.5 - 4.5%
1998 - 9,066.9 - 4.2%
1999 - 9,470.3 - 4.4%
2000 - 9,817 - 3.7%
2001 - 9,890.7 - 0.75%
2002 - 10,074.8 - 1.9%
2003 - 10,381.3 - 3.0%
2004 - 10,841.9 - 4.4%
2005 - 11,048.6 - 1.9%

So, after Clinton's tax increase for the rich in 1993 we see 6 years of over 3.7% growth. After Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, we see only one year out of 2003, 2004, and 2005 of over 3.7% growth and that probably fueled more by spending on the war than by anything else.

[hfojvt]

11. kick

I still think too many people do not know about this.

[Rex]

13. God, those are terrible numbers!

We've been stagnant at best. Negligence seems to be the norm.

[jus_the_facts]

14. Lies and misinformation...sellin' us out faster than you can say....

....Nancy Pelosi...we'll SEE if anything much changes this year or next...won't hold my breath...