Chuck Grassley: “it has been suggested by some of those who are opposed to our legislation that the tax cuts are backloaded, and there is…”

“it has been suggested by some of those who are opposed to our legislation that the tax cuts are backloaded, and there is some legitimacy to that argument, although don't forget that the tax rate reduction that benefits most Americans--in fact, every income-tax payer in America--the new 10-percent bracket, going back to January 1, 2001, benefits everybody. From that standpoint, this legislation is very frontloaded. But we are dealing with a congressional budget resolution that was adopted earlier this month. The budget surplus, excluding Social Security, will be $2.3 trillion over the next 11 years. The proposed tax reductions over the next 11 years will be $1.3 trillion of that $2.3 trillion. When one looks at the budget surplus and the tax cuts on a year-by-year basis, one will see that tax cuts are designed to stay within the available surplus each and every year. Twenty-nine percent of the budget surplus occurs over the next 5 years, and 29 percent of the tax cut is phased in over the next 5 years. Sixteen percent of the budget surplus occurs in the last year, while only 14 percent of the tax cuts occur the last year. In other words, the tax cuts are phased in to reflect the surpluses available to pay for them. To the extent one argues that our bill is backloaded, our tax relief is frontloaded for the lower income taxpayers, particularly that 10-percent new bracket about which I have been talking.”