The White House is billing its $3.7 trillion budget as a package of cuts that will reduce the deficit by $1.1 trillion over ten years. But at closer inspection this budget is as much about tax hikes as cuts.
I'm shocked. Shocked! There's a lot you can hide in 2,000 page documents!Here are the 15 taxes identified by Americans For Tax Reform:
1. Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%. This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike.
2. Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%, raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million. This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike.
3. Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate. This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more. This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike
Then several chump-change changes he's hoping for. And finally -
14. A giveaway to the trial lawyers -- not letting companies deduct the cost of punitive damages from a lawsuit settlement. This is a tax hike of $300 million over ten years
15. Increasing tax penalties, information reporting, and IRS information sharing. This is a ten-year tax hike of $20 billion.
But the IRS agents to enforce it probably add up to $40 bil. Cost-benefit ration, ya know.