Surprise! Taxes Will Actually Go Up for the Poor

This tax cut deal President Obama struck with Republicans is awesome—as long as you’re among the wealthiest Americans. At least a quarter of the tax savings will go to the top 1%, the New York Times points out, in a piece headlined “Tax Package Will Aid Nearly All.” Oh? Who’s not included in that “nearly all?” Why, the working poor, of course!

For individuals making less than $20,000 a year, or families making less than $40,000, taxes will actually increase, because their payroll tax savings will be less than what they lose out on from the expiring Making Work Pay tax credit. “It will only be a few dollars a week,” says an analyst from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, “but it is an increase.” Or, as another analyst put it, "It's going to look like the rich are getting richer again." (More Bush tax cuts stories.)