2008 State of the Union address: on Tax Reform

Barack Obama: Last thing we need now is a permanent tax cut

George W. Bush: FactCheck: Expiring tax cuts typically cost $828, not $1,800

It is true that taxes would go up compared with what people pay now should all the tax cuts expire--we calculate an average increase of $1,713. But the AVERAGE increase would not be TYPICAL. The increase would be far smaller, $828, for “typical” middle-earners (income between $27,000 and $48,000 a year). And of course, the increase would be lower still for those with lower incomes. For more than 80% of taxpayers, the increase would be well below Bush’s “average” figure. But for the top 1% earners (with incomes over $435,000) the tax increase would be $64,154. That’s what pulls up the average to well above what ordinary taxpayers would experience