Tim Pawlenty came out with his economic proposal, a financial calamity that would make the Bush Tax cuts look as if it was proposed by former Representative and ultra liberal Alan Grayson. Some of the numbers in the Pawlenty plan are:
- Reducing the top individual income tax rate from 35% to 25%
- Reducing the top Corporate tax rate from 25% to 15%
- Completely eliminate capital gains taxes, taxes on dividends and interest, and the estate tax
- Having just two income tax brackets, 10 percent and 25 percent
These drastic steps by Pawlenty are supposed to reduce the federal deficit, but according to the Tax Policy Center, the Congressional Budget Office and the IRS, even if all Pawlenty’s figures add up, revenue generated would be just 13.6 percent of GDP from 2013-2021, and equals a tax cut of $11 trillion over the same time. In comparison, the Bush’s tax cuts were three times smaller than what Pawlenty is proposing.
To put things into perspective, the nice folks at The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities did their research and came up with the following chart.
