Two recent analyses show that the so-called "Bush tax cuts" are as much about shifting the burden away from wealthy Americans as they are about lower taxes for all.

Two recent analyses show that the so-called "Bush tax cuts" are as much about shifting the burden away from wealthy Americans as they are about lower taxes for all.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released a comprehensive report on the impact of recent changes to tax law entitled Tax Returns: A Comprehensive Assessment of the Bush Administration's Record on Cutting Taxes. The report's main conclusions are that:

• "The Bush tax cuts have contributed to revenues dropping in 2004 to the lowest level as a share of the economy since 1950, and have been a major contributor to the dramatic shift from large projected budget surpluses to even larger projected deficits, which are as far as the eye can see.
• The tax cuts have conferred the most benefits, by far, on the highest-income households — those least in need of additional resources — at a time when income already is exceptionally concentrated at the top of the income pyramid.
• The design of these tax cuts was ill-conceived, resulting in significantly less economic stimulus than could have been accomplished for the same budgetary cost. In part because the tax cuts were not as effective as alternative measures would have been, job creation during this recovery has been notably worse than in any other recovery since the end of World War II."

A separate report by the Citizens for Tax Justice, Overall Tax Rates Have Flattened Sharply Under Bush, shows that the tax structure has become significantly more "flat" in recent years, with higher income individuals seeing a greater reduction in their tax rates.