The Daily Mislead...

ADMINISTRATION DISTORTS WHO BENEFITS FROM TAX CUT
The administration and most of the mainstream press are billing the tax package passed by Congress yesterday as a "middle class tax-cut."[1] The reality is that the new law is more of the same: tax cuts that benefit the rich and, in many cases, exclude the neediest families. An analysis from the Urban Institute-Brookings Tax Policy Center shows that the middle 20 percent of earners "will receive an average tax cut of $162 in 2005 from this legislation."[2] The top fifth of earners, however, "will get an average tax cut of $1,317."[3] As a result, the top fifth will receive two-thirds of all benefits.[4] The bill excluded a provision that would have extended the child tax credit to four million low-income families who currently don't qualify.[5] Extending eligibility to these families would have cost $4 billion.[6] Meanwhile, conservatives included $12 billion in tax cuts for corporations.
[7] Sources:
1. "Congress Extends Middle-Class Tax Breaks," The Kansas City Star, 9/24/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2198579&l=58038.
2. "New 'Middle-Class' Tax-Cut Bill Represents Cynical Policymaking," Center for Budget and
Policy Priorities, 9/23/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2198579&l=58039.
3. Ibid, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2198579&l=58039.
4. Ibid, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2198579&l=58039.
5. "Lawmakers Can't Resist Voting to Extend Bush's Tax Cuts," Los Angeles Times, 9/24/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2198579&l=58040.
6. Ibid., http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2198579&l=58040
7. Ibid., http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2198579&l=58040