More Than Half Of Jeb Bush's Proposed Tax Cuts Would Benefit The Top 1 Percent: Report

The poorest fifth of Americans would get just under 3 percent of the tax breaks.

More than half of the tax cuts proposed in former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's (R) tax plan would flow to America's wealthiest citizens, according to a report released by the nonpartisan group Citizens for Tax Justice, which advocates for "requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share."

While Americans at every income level would get a tax break under the presidential hopeful's plan, the report concludes, the size of that break would differ vastly. Those part of the poorest 20 percent of the country would receive, on average, a $227 cut, while those in the top 1 percent could expect about $82,392 -- a nearly 53 percent share of the individual income tax cuts.

Citizens for Tax Justice

In rolling out his tax proposal, which he unveiled earlier this month, Bush has occasionally adopted a populist tone, telling supporters at a North Carolina factory that “my plan will help those who live on their paychecks, who haven’t seen a raise in a while.”

He touted the plan as a way to lower taxes, simplify the tax code, eliminate loopholes and make the American economy more competitive, describing his planned tax cut for the highest bracket as a return to Reaganism.

"At 28%, the highest tax bracket would return to where it was when President Ronald Reagan signed into law his monumental and successful 1986 tax reform," he wrote in an op-ed announcing the proposal.

As The Huffington Post's Zach Carter and Ben Walsh previously reported, that's an even steeper tax cut for the wealthy than the 33 percent rate George W. Bush supported in 2000. Jeb Bush's plan also calls for cutting corporate taxes and the capital gains tax rate.

El Nuevo Herald via Getty Images

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