Bush unveils tax cut plan

Jeb Bush (Kevork Djansezian, AP)

Jeb Bush formally released his tax plan Wednesday, a proposal he trumpeted as reform that will promote growth and benefit the middle class and which Democrats denounced as a sop to the wealthy that will explode the budget deficit.

The plan would reduce the number of tax brackets from seven to three, eliminate “convoluted, lobbyist-created loopholes” in the system, and reduce a corporate tax rate that the former Florida governor says puts U.S. firms at a disadvantage in a global economy, Bush said.

“When we accomplish these big reforms, the result will be a much simpler, leaner and fairer tax code,” the former Florida governor wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal.

Bush will discuss the plan Wednesday in a speech in North Carolina.

Under Bush’s proposal, the three new brackets would tax income at 28%, 25%, and 10%. There are currently seven tax brackets, ranging from 10% to 39.6%.

While retaining deductions for charitable contributions, Bush said he wants to “cap the deductions used by the wealthy and Washington special interests, enabling tax-rate cuts across the board for everyone,” according to his Journal

The corporate tax rate would fall from 35% to 20% in order to “stop American companies from moving out of the country,” Bush wrote in the Journal

The tax changes will help the U.S. achieve his goal of 4% annual growth, and make the overall tax code simpler and fairer, according to Bush.

Democrats called the plan an example of “more trickle down Bush economics” from the son and brother of previous Republican presidents.

“More massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, all while exploding the deficit or shifting the burden onto the middle class,” said Democratic Party spokeswoman Holly Shulman. “Just as he did in Florida, Bush is embracing a disastrous economic agenda that benefits himself, and those like himself, while leaving the middle class out to dry.”