George W. Bush in Saving Capitalism, by Robert Reich

On Tax Reform: Cut estate tax from 55% to 40%, and raised cutoff

George W. Bush's largest tax reductions, in 2001 and 2003, helped high earners but provided even more help to people living off their accumulated wealth. While the top tax rate on income for work dropped from 39.6 percent to 35 percent, the top rate on dividends went from 39.6 percent (taxed as ordinary income) to 15 percent, and the estate tax was completely eliminated.

Barack Obama rolled back some of these cuts, but many remained. Before George W. Bush was president, the estate tax applied to assets in excess of $2 million per couple, at a rate of 55 percent. By 2014, it applied only to assets in excess of $10 million per couple, at a 40 percent rate.

Meanwhile, the tax rate paid by America's wealthy on their capital gains--the major source of income for the non-working rich--dropped from 33 percent in the late 1980s to 23.8 percent.

Source: Saving Capitalism, by Robert Reich, p.145 May 3, 2016

The above quotations are from Saving Capitalism For the Many, Not the Few by Robert B. Reich. Click here for other excerpts from Saving Capitalism For the Many, Not the Few by Robert B. Reich. Click here for other excerpts by George W. Bush. Click here for a profile of George W. Bush.
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