Federal and State Income Tax Filing Deadlines Moved to July 15

Breaking: House, Senate Conservatives Agree on $70 Billion In New Tax Cuts for the Rich -

House and Senate conservatives just agreed to move forward on another budget-busting tax bill favoring the wealthiest Americans. The latest plan — announced today “after months of tense negotiations and slipped deadlines” — will spend $70 billion to extend the 15 percent tax rate for capital gains and dividends until 2010. Today’s agreement “paves the way for House approval of the measure as early as Wednesday. The Senate could clear the bill for Bush’s desk by week’s end.”

According to a study by the Tax Policy Center, the tax cuts overwhelmingly benefit the already well-off:

The top tenth of 1 percent, whose average income is $5.3 million, would save an average of $82,415. Those in the top group would see their tax bill cut 4.8 percent, while Americans at the center of the income distribution — the middle fifth of taxpayers, who will earn an average of $36,000 this year — could expect a 0.4 percent reduction in their tax bill, or about $20.

Those who make less than $75,000 — which includes about 75 percent of all taxpayers — would save, at most, $110 each. Those making more than $1 million would save, on average, almost $42,000.

Despite administration claims to the contrary, Federal Reserve economists have found these investment tax cuts haven’t boosted the stock market, and the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation has found that any economic benefits of the cuts would “eventually likely to be outweighed by the reduction in national savings due to increasing Federal government deficits.”

For full coverage, stay tuned to American Progress’ BudgetBlog.

[Think Progress]