Tax Savings and 1972 hotels

I can't blog from work -- heck, I can't even access yahoo from the office at the moment. And, the hotel that I checked into last night in Cheyenne (at the recommendation of several people) was a shining monument to the decorating style of the early 1970s, which was the last time it was remodelled, I"m sure. Gold carpet, rococo lamps and mirrors, gilt wallpaper. It was...wow. And had no internet access, despite loudly proclaiming that it did on the web site.

Anyway, drove home to spend the night in my own bed (it's about a 1 1/2 hour drive from Cheyenne) and will head back out tomorrow, spend the night there and drive back Friday. Not too bad.

But, I ran across this article -- touting the "tax plan" that was just agreed to by congressional republicans

House and Senate Republican negotiators reached a final agreement yesterday
on a five-year, nearly $70 billion tax package that would extend President
Bush's deep cuts to tax rates on dividends and capital gains, while sparing
about 15 million middle-income Americans from the alternative minimum
tax

So, how much does this really help the "middle class"? It's surprising how many people think that the tax cuts are really helping the little guy. The truth is, it's aimed directly at those in the top 5% or so. Here's how much you might actually benefit from this:

Income, in 2005 dollars Average tax saving
$10,000-20,000          $2
$20,000-30,000           9
$30,000-40,000          16
$40,000-50,000          46
$50,000-75,000         110
$75,000-100,000        403
$100,000-200,000     1,388
$200,000-500,000     4,499
$500,000-1 million   5,562
More than $1 mil    41,977 

SOURCE: Tax Policy Center