Don't Mess With Taxes

The men and women hoping to win the Democratic presidential nomination have gotten a lot of attention for their proposals to tax the wealthy.

That's obviously an area to watch, as the money could help pay for some other tax and public policy pitches.

But most of us aren't wealthy.

So what is really important to us is how much of a tax bite the Internal Revenue Service would take out of our average Jane and Joe Taxpayer income under Democratic plans.

The Tax Foundation has looked at the tax proposals from the four Democratic White House wannabes who, at least in recent gauges of public sentiment, top their party's polls.

In case you haven't been following closely, that's former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

GOP plan under fire: As you might suspect, the main target of all the Democratic candidates is the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the Republican-written tax reform bill that was rushed through Congress at the end of 2017.

That law broadened ordinary income tax brackets and lowered some tax rates. The Democrats tend to want a partial or complete repeal of the TCJA.

For the most part, the lower rates would remain under a Democratic administration, but the amount of earnings in the brackets would change.

Another point of [rare] Democratic agreement is that the top tax rate, which was cut from 39.6 percent to 37 percent should go back up. Or a surtax should apply to higher-income taxpayers.

The Tax Foundation's piece has more details on the Democratic proposals. And that earns it this weekend's Saturday Shout Out.

You also might find these items of interest:

• The many ways to tax the rich
• Wealth tax targets likely to find ways around new laws
• Warren's wealth tax could hit rich couples with a bigger marriage penalty

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