Is It Really Belt Tightening

[PanzerJaeger]

You are aware that the Bush tax cuts shifted even more of the tax burden away from the poor and onto the wealthy and actually created direct subsidies for the poorest Americans, correct? That means that the Bush tax cuts actually created a new source of revenue, in the form of a check from the IRS, for the poorest Americans that didn't exist before. In effect, millions of poor Americans not only pay no tax, but get paid by the government.

It amazes me how misunderstood that and mischaracterized the tax cuts have been. President Bush wanted them to help everyone, but it is kind of difficult to give a tax break to people who pay no taxes, so they actually went to the extraordinary length of subsidizing the poor. It was the most progressive (sympathetic to the poor) tax policy in American history and still got labeled "tax cuts for the rich". Rhetoric over reality, as usual.