Somewhat oddly, the analysis (pdf) Cain posted from them has the word "draft" emblazoned on the bottom of every page. Confidence inspiring stuff. But even the draft analysis doesn't tell us much. What we need to know to decide whether the plan will raise taxes on those making the least is what tax wonks call "a distributional estimate" -- an estimate of what different income groups will pay under the new proposal. There's no such estimate in the Fiscal Associates draft. Luckily, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, who have long experience estimating tax-reform proposals, released just such an analysis last night.
They found that the proposal would raise taxes on 84 percent of households -- and, broadly speaking, those 84 percent of households would be the bottom 84 percent. A family in the bottom 20 percent of the income distribution can expect their tax bill to rise by more than $1,600. A family smack in the middle will be paying will be paying $3,238 more. It's not until you get to households making more than $200,000 that you begin to see tax cuts. If you're in the top one percent, your tax bill will drop by $307,000. The top 0.1 percent? A tax cut of almost $1.7 million.
More tax cuts for the rich, more tax increases for you. Sound familiar?
If America is stupid enough to vote for this, we deserve what we get. Hate to be so blunt, but I really don't know what it's going to take until people learn that the Republicans are in this for the 1% only, and if you keep voting for them and their trickle-down fantasies, this country will continue to circle the drain while the rest of the world moves forward.
It really is that simple sometimes.
More: Look, charts!