June 24, 2016 11:40 AM | Permalink | 
CTJ on Speaker Ryan’s Tax Plan: Tax Cuts for Corporations and the Wealthy Never Have and Will Not Deliver on Promises of Economic Growth
(Washington, D.C.) Following is a statement by Bob McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, regarding the release of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s tax reform blueprint.
“With rising income inequality, substantial deficits and lack of adequate revenue to fund public services, the nation should not be engaging in policy discussions about major tax cuts, especially cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy and corporations. But here we are—again. Speaker Ryan’s latest tax reform blueprint proposes to gut the progressivity and adequacy of our federal tax code via enormous cuts in top tax rates, multiple new tax breaks and corporate tax changes.
“Speaker Ryan proposes a major giveaway to corporations, cutting the statutory corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. At the same time, his plan would decimate the corporate tax base by exempting foreign profits from taxation and allowing the full expensing of capital investments. Even with the limited base-broadening measures Ryan proposes, it is likely that his plan will allow corporations to pay trillions less in taxes in the years to come.
“On the individual side, Speaker Ryan’s plan takes aim at the most progressive features of the tax code. First, he proposes to eliminate the estate tax, which only the richest of the rich, two of every 1,000 wealthy estates (0.2 percent) pays. In addition, Ryan plans to cut the top capital gains tax rate from 25 percent to 16.5 percent, which means an enormous windfall for the top 1 percent who enjoy about two-thirds of all capital gains income. Finally, Ryan would eliminate the alternative minimum tax, a measure that has long helped to ensure the wealthiest Americans pay at least a minimal tax rate.
“The only way that Speaker Ryan could possibly pay for such a costly, regressive plan is to double downby enacting draconian cuts to critical programs for middle- and low-income families.”
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