quote:

... A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service shows that, between 1996 and 2006, the share of total after-tax income attributable to dividends and capital gains grew by 40 percent, faster than any other category. Earned mostly by the well-to-do, investment income was the largest contributor to the increase in income inequality between 1996 and 2006, according to CRS.

The tax cuts enacted at the urging of President George W. Bush magnified what CRS calls the “disequalizing” impact of this shift. The 1986 tax reform eliminated the gap between the ordinary and capital gains rates. The gap began to widen again during President Bill Clinton’s second term, but the Bush tax cuts of 2003 blew it wide open by slicing the top rate on dividends and long-term capital gains from 28 percent to 15 percent. The tax code as of 2006 was still progressive, in that top earners paid a greater share of their income to Washington than everyone else. But thanks largely to the more favorable treatment of investment income, the code was significantly less progressive in 2006 than it was in 1996, CRS found.
...

quote:

... The U.S. system is progressive in that the average tax rate increases as income increases, which
tends to decrease inequality of after-tax income. In the decade between 1996 and 2006, however,
there was a relatively large decrease in average tax rates for tax filers at the top of the income
distribution. Consequently, the tax system in 2006 was less progressive than in 1996. ...
...
... [T]he 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, while reducing taxes for almost all tax filers,
reduced taxes for high-income tax filers to a greater extent than for lower-income tax filers.
Changes in income from capital gains and dividends were the single largest contributor to rising
income inequality between 1996 and 2006. ...

quote:

Originally posted by Zorro:
The only reason the Bush taxcuts didn't expire, is because the Democrats repassed them, and Obama re-signed them into Law.

quote:

The only reason the Bush taxcuts didn't expire, is because the Democrats repassed them, and Obama re-signed them into Law.

Not the point.

quote:

the Bush tax cuts

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Obama had to temporarily extend the income tax cuts to get 85% of what he wanted in a second stimulus

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He negotiated a deal

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Originally posted by Zorro:
If the Bush taxcuts are not the issue, then your title is a monument to stupidity.

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It wasn't his preference to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

quote:

Originally posted by Zorro:

quote:

He negotiated a deal

Where he repassed the Bush Taxcuts.

If he and the Democrats only wanted 85% of the Bush taxcuts, they could have simply passed that through both Houses, had Obama sign that and let the Bush taxcuts expire.

But the House never did that, did they?
Not in 4 years under Pelosi did they do that did they?

Not in the 2 years while Pelosi ran the House and Obama would have signed it, did they pass that did they?

Nope. They repassed the FULL Bush Taxcuts and Obama signed them into law.

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Yes, extending the tax cuts for the rich was entirely a Republican effort.

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It was a Republican idea

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Originally posted by Dr Chango:
No one with a brain believes the Democrats wanted to extend the tax cuts for the rich. They did it to appease the Republicans in order to get a stimulus package past the GOP filibuster in the Senate.

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No one with a brain believes the Democrats wanted to extend the tax cuts for the rich. They did it to appease the Republicans

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They were holding the unemployment compensation extension hostage as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brain surgery for right-wing wackos. No waiting...the Doctor is in!

quote:

Originally posted by Dr Chango:

quote:

They were holding the unemployment compensation extension hostage as well.

Yes, that too.