Robert McIntyre

Voodoo Tax Calculator George W. Bush’s Web site includes a “Bush For President Tax Calculator” that ostensibly lets taxpayers “See How Governor Bush’s Tax Plan Helps Working Americans.” But the calculator often simply doesn’t work. If you type “single, two kids, making $22,000,” for example, you’ll be told that your current income tax is $110 […]

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Republican from Texas, recently bragged that she was the key instigator in persuading the Senate Finance Committee, as part of its pending “marriage penalty reduction” bill, to raise the income level at which a couple enters the 31 percent income tax bracket. The Finance Committee had already decided to raise […]

Don’t be surprised if later this year the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the White House sharply raise their projections of future budget surpluses–perhaps by $1 trillion or more over the next 10 years, not even counting Social Security funds. Such good news, if it occurs, will cheer Republican tax cutters, especially George W. Bush, […]

Bush’s “Progressive” Tax Plan “The Bush tax cuts benefit all Americans, but reserve the greatest percentage reduction for the lowest income families.” (12/1/99) “Our tax code, in the end, will be more progressive.” (4/11/00) These Bush claims are real whoppers. In fact, more than a quarter of all Americans would get nothing at all from […]

Gore Plan Prevails Remember how George W. Bush regaled the voters last year with his criticism of Al Gore’s “targeted” tax cuts? “You only get a tax break if you do exactly what the government tells you to do,” Bush frequently carped. Well, Bush has now revealed the fine print of his own tax […]

Hatching Tax Cuts for the Rich Why is it that when Republicans in Congress try to address a real problem–whether it be an inadequate minimum wage, the tax code’s marriage penalty, or whatever else happens to catch their attention–they so often end up calling for big tax cuts for the rich? The latest example comes […]