Romney's Tax Plan, mentioned in prior posting...

If Romney's tax plan favors the middle-class, then these figures lie. Off to the lower right are "Avg Tax Increase" which clearly show a dramatic lowering of taxes for the upper 5%, but not much of a break for the lower 80%.

Table T12-0004
Mitt Romney's Tax Plan
Baseline: Current Policy
Distribution of Federal Tax Change by Cash Income Percentile, 2015 1
Summary Table
Cash Income Percentile2,3	Tax Units with Tax Increase or Cut 4				Percent Change in After-Tax Income5	Share of Total Federal Tax Change	Average Federal Tax Change ($)				Average Federal Tax Rate6
Change (% Points)			Under the Proposal			With Tax Cut			With Tax Increase
Pct of Tax Units			Avg Tax Cut			Pct of Tax Units			Avg Tax Increase
Lowest Quintile	13.2	-126		18.7	927	-1.4	-3.8	157		1.4	3.4
Second Quintile	29.3	-298		18.1	932	-0.3	-1.7	82		0.3	9.4
Middle Quintile	46.2	-491		11.1	792	0.3	2.6	-138		-0.3	15.6
Fourth Quintile	65.4	-903		6.6	862	0.7	8.2	-532		-0.6	18.8
Top Quintile	83.8	-8,641		5.2	1,569	3.1	94.4	-6,899		-2.3	23.4
All	42.4	-2,890		13.1	938	1.7	100.0	-1,064		-1.3	19.6
Addendum
80-90	75.2	-1,706		8.8	1,624	1.0	7.9	-1,143		-0.8	21.2
90-95	87.6	-3,075		2.8	1,255	1.6	8.7	-2,599		-1.2	22.0
95-99	96.7	-8,067		0.4	1,311	2.7	20.5	-7,477		-2.0	23.2
Top 1 Percent	99.1	-86,535		0.1	693	6.1	57.3	-82,188		-4.3	25.9
Top 0.1 Percent	99.9	-482,940		0.0	0	8.3	33.2	-464,005		-5.6	27.6
Source: Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center Microsimulation Model (version 0411-2).
Number of AMT Taxpayers (millions). Baseline: 6.1 Proposal: 5.8
* Less than 0.05
** Insufficient data
(1) Calendar year. Baseline is current policy, proposal implements Mitt Romney's tax plan. For a detailed discussion of TPC's interpretation of Romney's plan, see http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/Romney-plan.cfm. For a description of TPC's current law and current policy baselines, see
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/T11-0270
(2) Tax units with negative cash income are excluded from the lowest income class but are included in the totals. For a description of cash income, see
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/TaxModel/income.cfm
(3) The cash income percentile classes used in this table are based on the income distribution for the entire population and contain an equal number of people, not tax units. The breaks are (in 2011 dollars): 20% $19,342; 40% $39,862; 60% $69,074; 80% $119,546; 90% $169,987; 95% $242,597; 99% $629,809; 99.9% $2,868,534.
(4) Includes both filing and non-filing units but excludes those that are dependents of other tax units.
(5) After-tax income is cash income less: individual income tax net of refundable credits; corporate income tax; payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare); and estate tax.
(6) Average federal tax (includes individual and corporate income tax, payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, and the estate tax) as a percentage of average cash

Romney's campaign focus & tax plans

02/01/12

CNN's Soledad O'Brien asked Romney about perceptions that he doesn't understand the needs of average Americans. In response, Romney said:

          “This is a time people are worried. They're frightened. They want someone who they have confidence in. And I believe I will be able to instill that confidence in the American people. And, by the way, I'm in this race because I care about Americans.  I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it. 

          I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling and I'll continue to take that message across the nation.”

When O'Brien followed on Romney's I'm-not-concerned-about-the-very-poor comment, the presidential candidate responded:

          “The challenge right now – we will hear from the Democrat Party the plight of the poor, and – and there’s no question, it's not good being poor and we have a safety net to help those that are very poor. 

But my campaign is focused on middle income Americans. My campaign – you can choose where to focus. You can focus on the rich. That's not my focus. You can focus on the very poor. That's not my focus.”

(In fact, according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, the largest benefits of Romney's tax plan go to the wealthy, not the middle class.)

Romney's comment about not being concerned about the poor is his latest statement that his rivals -- either Democratic or Republican -- could use to portray Romney as being out of touch with average Americans. Other examples: 

·        his $10,000 bet with Rick Perry (at December GOP debate)

·        "I like being able to fire people," even though he was referring to insurers (at speech in New Hampshire)

·        "There were a couple of times I wondered if I was going to get a pink slip" (during remarks in New Hampshire)

·        saying that questions about economic inequality are "about envy" (on "TODAY" back in January)

·        and the ultimate release of his 2010 tax returns, which showed him paying an effective tax rate of less than 15%.