Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush suggested that the wealthiest top 1 percent of Americans would receive more benefits from this tax plan than the middle class because "that's just the way it is."
September 27, 2015

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush suggested that the wealthiest top 1 percent of Americans would receive more benefits from this tax plan than the middle class because "that's just the way it is."

During a Sunday interview on Fox News, host Chris Wallace pointed out that Bush's assertion that cutting taxes would generate more revenue for the government was an idea that his father, George H.W. Bush, had called "voodoo economic" when Ronald Reagan tried a similar plan.

"You gave your tax plan to four conservative economists who said that it would increase the deficit between 1 and 3 trillion dollars over the next ten years," Wallace explained. "Now, Ronald Reagan proposed something roughly similar -- big tax cuts -- back in 1980 and he argued that the dynamic effect -- the word you used -- the growth would end up paying for the revenue loss."

"You know what your dad called that?" Wallace noted. "Is this your version of 'voodoo economics'?"

"It's not the government's money," Bush insisted. "If we can allow people to have more money, clearly that's going to create economic growth."

"But whether it was Ronald Reagan's tax cuts or your brother's tax cuts, they did add greatly to the deficit," Wallace countered.

"They didn't add as greatly as the static thinkers on the left think," Bush quipped. "They created a dynamic effect of high growth. If people think 2 percent growth is okay then we'll have more people living in poverty, and disposable income for the middle class will continue to decline. We have to jump start the economy so people can have more money to make decisions for themselves."

Wallace also noted that the middle class would only see a 2.9 percent increase in income with Bush's tax plan. But the top 1 percent of earners would see an 11.6 percent increase in income.

"You would save, under your tax plan, $3 million," the Fox News host said. "Does Jeb Bush need a $3 million tax cut?"

Bush, however, argued that the benefit of his plan "goes disproportionately to the middle class."

"It's a 2.9 percent increase," Wallace reminded the candidate.

"Higher income people pay more taxes," Bush asserted. "Proportionally, everybody will get a benefit, but proportionally they'll pay more with my plan than what they pay today."

"Well, forgive me sir, but 2.9 seems like it's less than 11.6," Wallace declared.

"This simple fact is 1 percent of people pay 40 percent of all the taxes," Bush shot back. "And so of course tax cuts for everybody is going to generate more for people that are paying a lot more. I mean, that's just the way it is."

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