The White House is billing its $3.7 trillion budget as a package of cuts that will reduce the deficit by $1.1 trillion over ten years.
But at closer inspection this budget is as much about tax hikes as cuts.
In fact, the budget contains as much as $1.5 trillion in hikes over ten years, according to the Americans For Tax Reform.
Here are the 15 taxes identified by ATR:
* Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%. This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike
* Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%
* Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million. This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike
* Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate. This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more. This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike
* New bank taxes totaling $33 billion over ten years
* New international corporate tax hikes totaling $129 billion over ten years
* New life insurance company taxes totaling $14 billion over ten years
* Massive new taxes on energy, including LIFO repeal, Superfund, domestic energy manufacturing, and many others totaling $120 billion over ten years
* Increasing unemployment payroll taxes by $15 billion over ten years
* Taxing management capital gains in an investment partnership (“carried interest”) as ordinary income. This is a tax hike of $15 billion over ten years
* A giveaway to the trial lawyers—not letting companies deduct the cost of punitive damages from a lawsuit settlement. This is a tax hike of $300 million over ten years
* Increasing tax penalties, information reporting, and IRS information sharing. This is a ten-year tax hike of $20 billion.
Read more at Business Insider.
