Bush 2003 Tax Plan a Big Fat Zero for a Third of Nation’s Taxpayers

January 27, 2003 05:19 PM | Permalink |

Almost a third of America’s couples and singles would receive absolutely no tax cut from President Bush’s proposals to accelerate some of his previously-enacted tax cuts and exempt dividends from personal income taxes. A new analysis released by Citizens for Tax Justice looks at the 2003 effects of the latest Bush tax cut plan on a state-by-state basis. The analysis finds that the shares of taxpayers slated to get no tax cut are especially high in lower-income states.

Nationwide, 31 percent of taxpayers would get nothing from the Bush plan.

The dozen states with the highest percentages of taxpayers who would get nothing at all from the latest Bush tax proposals include: Mississippi (44%), Louisiana (42%), West Virginia (42%), Arkansas (40%), Alabama (39%), Kentucky (38%), Oklahoma (38%) , South Carolina (36%), Montana (36%), Idaho (35%), Tennessee (35%), and New Mexico (35%). Ironically, all of these states except New Mexico cast their electoral votes for Bush in the last presidential election.

“It’s no wonder that the President’s latest round of upper-income tax cuts is polling so poorly,” said CTJ director Robert S. McIntyre. “Four out of five taxpayers would get no tax cut from Bush’s proposal to eliminate taxes on dividends, one in three would get zero from the entire package, and the median tax reduction is only $289. Why would most people want to endanger important programs, swell both federal and state budget deficits, and hurt our economy for so little in return?”

A table showing the shares of taxpayers in each state with no tax cut under the Bush plan, along with the President’s proposed tax cuts for median-income taxpayers and the top one percent in each state follows.

Click here to see this analysis in PDF format.

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