Revised July 2, 1999

Coverdell-Torricelli Proposal To Boost 15% Tax Bracket Would Primarily Benefit Higher-Income Families, Not The Middle Class
by Iris J. Lav

Senators Paul Coverdell (R-GA) and Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) are sponsoring legislation that would reduce federal income taxes by increasing the amount of a taxpayer's income that is taxed at the 15 percent tax rate rather than the 28 percent rate. The legislation would accomplish this by raising the income levels at which the 15 percent tax bracket ends and the 28 percent bracket begins.

This lifting of the top of the 15 percent tax bracket is the centerpiece of two different bills these Senators have introduced. One bill, the "Middle Class Tax Relief Act" (S. 274), includes only this provision. The other, the "Small Savers Act" (S. 593), combines the 15 percent bracket change with exemptions for capital gains, interest, and dividend income and an increase in IRA contribution limits. Recent statements by Republican leaders in both the House and the Senate suggest this increase in the income at which the 15 percent bracket ends may be included in Republican leadership tax packages.

The names of these bills convey the impression that middle-class taxpayers would be the primary beneficiaries of the boost in the 15 percent bracket. This, however, is not the case; this measure does not provide much middle-income tax relief. In fact, most middle-income families would fail to benefit from this change. By contrast, most high-income families would benefit substantially.

These 96 million taxpayers would not receive any tax reduction because raising the amount of income taxed at the 15 percent rate provides no benefit to those for whom all income already is taxed at no higher than a 15 percent rate. For example, two-parent families of four with adjusted gross incomes up to $61,250 do not have any income taxed at the 28 percent rate and would receive no benefit under this plan.

Table 1
Taxpayers with No Tax Cut Under the
Coverdell-Torricelli Increase in 15 Percent Bracket
(Fully phased in at 1999 levels)

Total Income

Number of Tax Units (000)

Number With No Tax Cut

Percent With No Tax Cut

Less than $10,000

16,236

16,236

100%

$10-20,000

25,888

25,888

100%

$20-30,000

21,629

21,553

100%

$30-40,000

14,502

12,194

84%

$40-50,000

12,156

8,487

70%

$50-75,000

18,320

9,246

50%

$75-100,000

8,263

779

9%

$100-200,000

7,239

641

9%

$200,000 and over

2,467

455

18%

ALL

127,648

96,427

76%

"All" includes taxpayers with negative incomes not distributed by income class.  Source: Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy Model, June 1999

Indeed, only seven percent of tax filers with income below $50,000 — and just 14 percent of those below $75,000 — would receive any tax reduction. But 89 percent of those with incomes over $100,000 would benefit. Moreover, some of the upper-middle-income families that would benefit would receive only a partial tax cut, while most high-income families who benefitted would receive the maximum tax cut the proposal can provide, $1,300 a year.

 

The 15 Percent Bracket

The Coverdell-Torricelli bills would increase the taxable income ceiling for the 15 percent tax bracket by $5,000 for single taxpayers and head of household filers and by $10,000 for married couples. In other words, an additional $5,000 or $10,000 of income, depending on filing status, would be moved from the 28 percent tax bracket to the 15 percent bracket. The increase would be phased in over five years.

As noted, raising the amount of income taxed at the 15 percent rate does not provide any tax benefit to tax filers for whom all income already falls within the 15 percent bracket under current law. Under current law, the 15 percent tax rate applies to taxable income below $43,050 for married couples, $34,550 for head of household filers, and $27,750 for single individuals. Taxable income, however, is not the same thing as adjusted gross income, and the actual income of many taxpayers who pay taxes at a maximum 15 percent rate is substantially higher than these "taxable income" ceilings.

In determining taxable income, taxpayers subtract from their gross income the personal exemptions they are allowed for each member of the family as well as their standard deduction (or itemized deductions if greater). For a married couple family of four, taxable income of $43,050 corresponds to gross income of $61,250. (Gross income of $61,250 minus the $7,200 standard deduction for married filers and four personal exemptions that total $11,000 yields taxable income of $43,050; see Table 2.) Thus, married families of four with income below $61,250 already have all of their income in the 15 percent bracket and would receive no tax cut under this proposal.

Furthermore, to receive the full benefit of the proposed increase in the income ceiling on the 15 percent bracket, married taxpayers would need to have at least $10,000 of taxable income that falls in the 28 percent tax bracket under current law. As Table 2 shows, a married taxpayer with two children would need income exceeding $71,250 in 1999 to receive the full benefit of the tax cut. For taxpayers with incomes above this level, the proposed increase would result in a tax reduction of $1,300 each. (For these taxpayers, $10,000 of income would be taxed at a rate 13 percentage points lower than the rate at which it is taxed under current law — i.e., this income would be taxed at the 15 percent rate rather than the 28 percent rate.)

It is misleading to call this proposal a middle-class tax cut. Only 22 percent of taxpayers with gross incomes in the $30,000 to $50,000 range — which is squarely in the middle of the income distribution and part of most people's definition of the middle class — would receive any tax cut; the other 78 percent of taxpayers in this income range would not benefit. This stands in sharp contrast to the very high proportions of high-income filers who would gain.

Table 2
Minimum Income At Which Taxpayers Benefit From Coverdell-Torricelli
Boost in 15 Percent Bracket

Single

Head of Household
(2 children)

Joint Filer
(2 children)

1999
Maximum taxable income for 15% rate

$27,750

$34,550

$43,050

Personal exemption

2,750

8,250

11,000

Standard deduction

4,300

6,350

7,200

Minimum gross income needed to benefit at all from the proposal

$34,800

$49,150

$61,250

Proposed increase in maximum taxable income for 15% rate (fully phased-in)

$5,000

$5,000

$10,000

Minimum gross income needed to benefit fully from the proposal

$39,800

$54,150

$71,250

Those families with incomes just large enough to benefit fully from the proposed change — that is, those with incomes modestly above $71,250 for married couples — may be described as being in the upper part of the middle class. Even these upper-middle-income families have income well above the median. The median income level for all households in 1997 was $37,000, and the median income for married couple families was $51,681.