Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's tax plan would decrease taxes on those making $1 million or more by an average of $250,000, according to a recent study by the left-wing Citizens for Tax Justice. The study also notes that individuals making $500,000 and above would receive a tax break of approximately $50,000 on average.
"If Romney kept his pledge to avoid increasing the deficit (aside from the enormous deficit increase resulting from the Bush tax cuts), then someone will have to face a net increase in their taxes," the report says. "These figures demonstrate that the very rich won’t be the ones paying for Romney’s proposals."
The Romney plan achieves tax cuts and revenue neutrality by undoing most tax credits and deductions enjoyed by the middle class, including: mortgage interest deductions, the child tax credit and the employer-based health care exclusion.
President Barack Obama nicknamed Romney's tax plan "Romney Hood" in a speech earlier this month, saying that the plan would steal from the poor and give to the rich. It's like "Robin Hood in reverse," Obama said, according to the Associated Press.
CTJ's study comes on the heels of a similar investigation of Romney's tax plan conducted by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center earlier this month. TPC's report states that the revenue neutrality resulting from Romney's tax cut for the rich can be achieved only by increasing the taxes on those making $200,000 or less per year.
"Because taxpayers above $200,000 as a group have received a net tax cut, revenue neutrality requires that taxpayers below $200,000 -- about 95 percent of the population -- experience a tax increase," the report states. "If this increased burden is shared equally among all households earning less than $200,000, after-tax income among individuals in this group would decrease by (on average) 1.2 percent (an average tax increase of $500 per household)."
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