House Republicans Continue to Target Middle Class, Protect Very Wealthy

February 7, 2012

House Republicans on the Conference Committee continue to cling to a House GOP bill that was widely opposed by Democrats in December and led to a debacle that nearly raised taxes on 160 million Americans and ended unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless. Today Republicans continued to push that proposal, which would target middle income families while asking nothing from the very wealthiest taxpayers.

GOP TARGETING THE MIDDLE CLASS….

The House Republican income relating provision would ultimately increase Medicare premiums for millions of middle-income seniors.The lack of an inflation adjustment means that more and more beneficiaries will fall into the category of "wealthy." If proposals that apply income-related premiums to 25 percent of Medicare beneficiaries were fully implemented today, then individuals with incomes just around $40,000 would be subject to the higher premiums.
The GOP "true-up" proposal would target middle-income families bychanging the amounts they must repay for premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act. The provision would increase the tax burden of those earning less than 400 percent of the poverty line – around $90,000 for a family of four. An estimated 170,000 individuals will not be covered by health insurance at all on account of the Republican proposal as some will forgo coverage completely because they fear burdensome tax bills if their income changes.
The federal pay freeze Republicans continue to push would entirely wipe out any benefit those middle-incomeworkers would see through a cut in their payroll taxes.

WHILE ASKING NOTHING OF THE VERY WEALTHY….

House Republicans refuse to even consider a surtax on millionaires, which would affect only 0.2% of taxpayers who have an average annual income of nearly $3 million. Consider these facts:

o 1,470 millionaires paid no income taxes in 2009. That's a 53 percent jump from 2007. (Internal Revenue Service)

o A quarter of all millionaires (94,500 taxpayers) paid a lower tax rate than 10.4 million taxpayers who earn less than $100,000 a year. (Congressional Research Service, October 2011)

o The effective federal income tax rate of the wealthiest 400 taxpayers dropped from 29 percent in 1993 to 18 percent in 2008. The average adjusted gross income of those 400 households was $271 million. (Internal Revenue Service)

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