| Citizens for Tax Justice , 202-626-3780 | April 25, 2001 |
Treasury Press Release Confirms CTJ Estimates of Bush Tax Plan's
Demographics--But Leaves Out What Taxpayers Really Need to Know
Click here to see this analysis in PDF format.
An April 24, 2001 press release from the Bush Treasury Department confirms previous
estimates by Citizens for Tax Justice about the aggregate effects of the Bush tax
proposals on various demographic groups. But the Bush release fails to tell average
taxpayers what the Bush plan will actually mean for them.
Treasury offers summary statistics about the fully-phased-in size of the Bush income
tax cuts and the number of taxpayers who would receive tax reductions--for all
taxpayers and selected subgroups, including families with children, single parents, and
seniors. Treasury's findings are similar to figures released by CTJ earlier this year.
Unlike CTJ's estimates, however, Treasury does not provide information about the
large number of taxpayers who would receive no benefit from the Bush tax proposals.
Treasury also fails to provide information on the median, or typical, tax cuts under the
Bush plan for taxpayers in the various demographic groups.
- For example, while Treasury says that 13 million seniors would get an average
income tax cut of $892 each under the Bush plan, it fails to note that almost half
of all seniors would get nothing, and that the typical senior would get a tax cut
of only $150.
- Likewise, Treasury says that 8 million "single moms" would get a tax cut of
$712, but does not disclose that 48 percent of single parents would get nothing,
and that the median tax cut for single parents would be only $326.
| Treasury & CTJ Estimates of the Effects of the Bush Income Tax Cuts |
| Demographic Group |
Treasury says (2002 levels) |
CTJ says (2001 levels) |
| # with (mill.) |
Average with |
$-bill. |
% with |
Typical tax cut |
# with (mill.) |
Average with |
$-bill. |
% with |
Typical tax cut |
| All taxpayers |
103 |
$1,117 |
$115.1 |
not available |
97 |
$1,233 |
$119.1 |
74% |
$500 |
| Families with children |
36 |
1,617 |
58.2 |
not available |
34 |
1,836 |
61.5 |
73% |
1,114 |
| Single parents* |
8 |
712 |
5.8 |
not available |
8 |
826 |
7.0 |
52% |
326 |
| Seniors |
13 |
892 |
12.0 |
not available |
12 |
1,076 |
12.9 |
51% |
150 |
| Single, non-elderly, without kids |
not available |
not available |
32 |
535 |
17.1 |
80% |
283 |
*Treasury says its figures are for “single moms”; CTJ’s figures include all single parents.
Notes: Both set of estimates include the President's proposed income tax rate cuts, increased child credit, second-earner deduction and charitable deduction for non-itemizers, fully phased in. The “Average with” figures show the average tax cuts only for those with tax cuts—they exclude taxpayers who get no benefit from the Bush proposals and are heavily weighted by the very large tax cuts at the top of the income scale. In contrast, the “Typical” figures show what the median taxpayer in each group would get from the Bush income tax proposals.
Sources: U.S. Treasury Department, 4/24/2001. ITEP Tax Model, Feb. 2001. |