Russ Feingold: “this amendment is about tax fairness. The bill before us is tilted heavily toward high-income taxpayers. According to…”

“this amendment is about tax fairness. The bill before us is tilted heavily toward high-income taxpayers. According to Citizens for Tax Justice, when this bill's tax cuts are fully phased in, the highest-income one percent of taxpayers would receive 35 percent of the benefits of the bill. The majority of taxpayers in the bottom three-fifths of the population would get only a little more than 15 percent of the bill's benefits. When this bill's tax cuts are fully phased in, the one percent of taxpayers with the highest incomes would receive an average tax cut of more than $44,000, while taxpayers in the middle fifth of the population would receive an average tax cut of less than $600. Even as a share of their income, those with the highest incomes would receive greater benefits under this bill. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, when fully phased in, this bill's tax cuts would increase the after-tax income of the highest-income one percent of families by an average of 5 percent, but it would increase the average after-tax income of the middle fifth of families by just a little more than 2 percent. Nationwide, only 907,990 taxpayers, or \7/10\ of a percent of taxpayers are in the top tax bracket. But that group is not too small to capture the attentions of this tax bill.”