CLAIM vs. FACT: Bush Treasury Dept. on Taxes

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities really nails the Bush Treasury Department for its latest distortions and dishonesty about taxes. Let's put the administration's crap into the merciless Claim vs. Fact dojo:

BUSH ADMINISTRATION CLAIM:
"The President’s tax cuts have shifted a larger share of the individual income taxes paid to higher income taxpayers." - Bush Treasury Department, 3/2/05

FACT:
"Since 2001, President Bush's tax cuts have shifted federal tax payments from the richest Americans to a wide swath of middle-class families, the Congressional Budget Office has found." - Washington Post, 8/13/04

BUSH ADMINISTRATION CLAIM:
"A small group of higher income taxpayers pay most of the individual income tax each year." - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/13/05

FACT:
"Although high-income households paid a larger share of federal taxes in 2002 than in 1990, these households still saw their incomes increase much faster over this period than any other income group, even after taxes are taken into account. The CBO data show that from 1990 to 2002 — the period that the Treasury fact sheet covers — the average after-tax income of the top one percent of the population jumped 40 percent, while the average after-tax income of the middle fifth of the population rose 13 percent...It also should be noted that a significant part of the increase in the share of taxes paid by high-income households reflects the large rise in their share of overall income in the nation."
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/13/05

BUSH ADMINISTRATION CLAIM:
"The individual income tax is highly progressive." - Bush Treasury Department, 3/2/05

FACT:
"While the nation’s tax code is progressive, it is not nearly as progressive as the Treasury fact sheet would lead one to believe. The Treasury analysis shows that the one percent of taxpayers with the highest incomes paid 33.7 percent of federal individual income taxes in 2002. However, a new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office shows that this group pays a substantially smaller proportion — 21.1 percent — of federal taxes overall, including payroll, excise, and other taxes. The progressivity of the tax system is further muted if state and local taxes are taken into account; most state and local tax systems are regressive."
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/13/05