99 Percent of Americans are Net Losers Under Bush Tax and Spending Policies

June 29, 2006 03:44 PM | | Bookmark and Share

Last month, President George W. Bush signed into law another round of tax cuts. The latest cuts provide temporary capital gains and dividends tax cuts and AMT relief. But these tax cuts are being paid for entirely with borrowed money. In fact, over the fiscal 2002-07 period, the national debt, including amounts owed to the Social Security Trust Fund, will balloon by $3 trillion. The cost of this borrowing binge will ultimately come out of taxpayers’ pockets, either through spending cuts or future tax hikes.

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Congress Considers Budget Rules To Slash Services While Protecting Tax Breaks for the Rich

June 29, 2006 02:21 PM | | Bookmark and Share

Despite the fact that tax breaks enacted since 2001 are responsible for almost half of the U.S. federal budget deficit, President Bush and Republican leaders in Congress claim that they need new budget rules that will encourage deep cuts in federal programs — but mandate no changes in tax policy — in order to get deficits under control.

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Proposed Timber Tax Break Benefits Low-Tax Corporations

June 22, 2006 02:08 PM | | Bookmark and Share

Last week, Senate Republicans failed in their effort to permanently repeal the federal estate tax. Now tax writers in the House of Representatives are working to enact “compromise” legislation that would cost almost as much as full repeal—and GOP leaders are adding “sweeteners” to the estate tax bill to encourage more Senators to support this legislation. One of these provisions, a special capital gains tax break for timber companies, would likely result in profitable timber companies paying no tax. According to the Washington Post, the provision is designed to sway the votes of two Democratic Senators from Washington State (a major timber-producing state) who opposed estate tax repeal in last week’s Senate vote.

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Do Family Farms Need More Estate Tax Breaks?

June 9, 2006 02:09 PM | | Bookmark and Share

The failure of a procedural vote this week in the U.S. Senate means that Republican efforts to make permanent the Bush administration’s 2001 estate tax cuts have failed— for the moment. If nothing else is done, in 2011 the federal estate tax cuts pushed through by Bush will expire. Will the resulting “pre-Bush” estate tax be sufficiently generous to American family farms? This CTJ issue brief evaluates the special estate tax breaks for farmers that existed before the 2001 Bush tax cuts were enacted—and will exist again in 2011 if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire as currently scheduled.

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CTJ Statement on Estate Tax Cloture Vote

June 8, 2006 02:10 PM | | Bookmark and Share

Earlier today, a procedural vote in the United States Senate failed by a 57-41 vote, ensuring that the federal estate tax will not be fully repealed. Citizens for Tax Justice congratulates the U.S. Senators who decided today that estate tax repeal is not in the interest of the vast majority of Americans. The failure of today’s cloture vote sends an important signal to Congress and the Bush Administration that Americans are concerned about the growing inequality of wealth in America—and that we believe the estate tax can play an important role in preventing the creation of a new American aristocracy.

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New IRS Data Show Fewer Americans Paying Estate Tax

June 5, 2006 02:12 PM | | Bookmark and Share

Republican Senate leaders are pushing to enact permanent repeal of the federal estate tax, a move that would cost nearly $1 trillion over the first full decade. Meanwhile, other Senators are seeking a “compromise” that would cost nearly as much as full repeal. But new data from the Internal Revenue Service, describing estate tax payments in each state for 2004, show that more than ever, the estate tax is virtually irrelevant for most Americans—raising the question of why Congress is so intent on repealing a tax that affects so few estates.

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