Some people feel that with technological change and globalization tending to increase income inequality and reduce the labor share of national income, that the tax code ought to become more redistributive. Others, including virtually all Republican Party politicians, believe that an appropriate response would be to make the federal income tax code drastically less redistributive. The latest entrant into the sweepstakes is Newt Gingrich, whose tax policy ideas assessed here by the Tax Policy Center. I chose to make a chart of their comparison relative to the current policy baseline. In other words, assume that all the Bush tax cuts are extended. How much more of a tax cut is Gingrich handing out?
Well here it is in quintiles:
Good news for people with college degrees! But how about the super-elite?
Super-good! If you think under-taxation of the highest earning Americans is a crucial policy problem, Gingrich is offering you a bold solution.
* Correction, December 13: The original draft of this post called the quintiles “quartiles.”
