Fact Check: Dean criticize ad saying he's for tax increase. Is it right? [View All]

[AP]

This post seemed to stop another thread in its tracks, so it must be saying something interesting:

Dean calls the ad "false," but Club for Growth TV ad -- saying he's called for a big tax increase -- is mostly right

http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=113

Howard Dean is firmly on the record in favor of repealing both tax-cut bills signed by President Bush in 2001 and 2003, and returning to tax rates that prevailed under Bill Clinton.

That would do more than just canceling some scheduled tax cuts that haven't yet taken effect -- it would clearly require raising taxes from where they are today. The table below, from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Institute, calculates how the Bush cuts are affecting families in various situations for the current tax year. Clearly the affluent gain most, just as they currently pay the most taxes. But a total repeal of the Bush tax cuts would also cost $350 for a single taxpayer making as little as $15,000 a year. And for a typical middle-income family making $50,000 a year, with two children under age 17 qualifying for sweetened per-child tax credits, total repeal would amount to a tax increase of $1,773.