Tax Cuts for the Rich

The standard Dem theme is that President Bush's tax cuts just went to the rich. Well, based on this study by the Tax Foundation, maybe they should have:

The 2003 tax cut was the third in three years, but the tax code still remains highly progressive. The average tax rate ranges from 2.97 percent of income for the bottom half of the earning spectrum to 23.49 percent for the top 1 percent.

The top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $60,041) earned 66.1 percent of nation’s income, but they paid more than four out of every five dollars collected by the federal income tax (84.9 percent). The top 1 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $328,049) earned approximately 19 percent of the nation’s income (as defined by AGI), yet paid 36.9 percent of all federal income taxes.

According to Table 6 on this page, in 1980 the bottom 50% of wage earners were paying 7.05% of the Federal taxes collected. The top 1% in 1980 paid 19.05%. In 2004 (the last year data is available) the bottom 50% paid only 3.3% while the top 1% paid 36.9%.

I'd say the rich are due for a tax cut.