The Bush Tax cuts seem to be dominating the debate about deficits and stimulus.
I found two recent MSM articles (with graphics!) quite informative.
From Bloomberg BusinessWeek, we see this ginormous graphic from the article The Wisdom and Folly of the Bush Tax Cuts. The full graphic is informative as to the longer term impact of the Bush Tax cuts, which will cost the Treasury Department $238 billion in 2011.
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click for ginormous graphic
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Extending the cut on the top rate adds to the deficit by about $36 billion next year, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation (more in the ensuing years). And of that top bracket, households earning more than $1 million a year gain nearly $31 of the $36 billion in tax cuts.
The graphic from Joint Committee on Taxation (published in the Washington Post) is quite telling:
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Sources:
GOP plan to extend tax cuts for rich adds $36 billion to deficit, panel finds
Lori Montgomery
Washington Post, August 12, 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/08/12/ST2010081200375.htm
The Wisdom and Folly of the Bush Tax Cuts
Peter Coy
Bloomberg BusinessWeek, August 5, 2010
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_33/b4191056654282.htm
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