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Conservative Populism, Continued

For those who don't always check the front page, I have a web-only column on Hillary Clinton's turn to conservative populism.

I noticed that several commentors objected to my statement that the Bush tax cuts caused the middle class to pay a higher share of the federal tax burden. This fact was proven by the Congressional Budget Office in 2004:

The CBO study, due to be released today, found that the wealthiest 20 percent, whose incomes averaged $182,700 in 2001, saw their share of federal taxes drop from 64.4 percent of total tax payments in 2001 to 63.5 percent this year. The top 1 percent, earning $1.1 million, saw their share fall to 20.1 percent of the total, from 22.2 percent. 

Over that same period, taxpayers with incomes from around $51,500 to around $75,600 saw their share of federal tax payments increase. Households earning around $75,600 saw their tax burden jump the most, from 18.7 percent of all taxes to 19.5 percent.

--Jonathan Chait