Not only is the whole tax cut house of cards based on capital gains, it's also based on the AMT remaining as stands. Ive heard quite a bit of squealing re: AMT on this thread. It'll get louder closer to 4/15. Don't expect any relief any time soon.
Don't know if you're aware, but George the Second had to alter (scale back) his tax cut proposal mid-stream during the campaign. Why? Way too expensive.
The revised gives you this:
The revised Bush tax plan would reduce revenues by almost $1.6 trillion over ten years, costing a total of $1.92 trillion, including $355 billion in added interest on the national debt.
Under the revised plan, a major portion of the income tax cuts people making between $65,000 and $319,000 would have expected from the Bush plan are illusory. Although Bush proposes to reduce the current 28% and 31% income tax rates to 25%, his campaign now says that much of that change will be obviated by retaining the 26% and 28% "alternative minimum tax" rates. The alternative tax is paid if it exceeds the regular tax due.
Currently about a million taxpayers pay the alternative tax. Under Bush's revised plan, the number would jump to more than 20 million taxpayers by the year 2010.
ctj.org
Ooops...Can you say smoke and mirrors? He couldn't afford the original tax cut plan. He can only afford the revised one now if AMT stays in place as is. And what happens when capital gains taxes don't materialize as expected?
Fankly, I wouldn't hold my breath for any real tax relief from George the Second. You'll turn blue...Unless you are in the top one percent. Did you notice this?
ctj.org
The newly-described changes would sharply lower the tax cuts for taxpayers in the top fifth of the income scale--except for the top one percent of taxpayers. The top one percent, whose tax cut is lowered only slightly, would actually get a noticeably larger share of the total Bush tax cuts than under the originally-described plan.
The top one percent...His real constituency. The rest of us essentially get screwed.
The revised Bush tax plan would reduce revenues by almost $1.6 trillion over ten years, costing a total of $1.92 trillion, including $355 billion in added interest on the national debt.
How likely is AG to produces substantial rate cuts given the above? He's stated reduction of the national debt is a priority v. tax cuts. Then George the Second came out of the meeting pounding the table with, "Tax cuts are non-negotiable!"
Who do you think is gonna win this round? |
