File:Mark Sanford chart of percent of federal income taxes paid by income level 25626028 749320178611099 2840416192998053093 o.jpg

English: In the aftermath of yesterday’s vote and the revote we had to take today on the tax bill, there’s been a lot of rhetorical points made on tax cuts for wealthy people versus the middle class.

I think there are two interesting thoughts on this….

One, I’ve said from the very beginning that fundamentally this was a corporate and business tax reduction and reform bill. That was the genesis of the bill and its original intent, though things were added so that there was some level of chicken in every pot as it relates to taxpayers and tax relief. That remains the case, which is why a great degree of the tax distribution still - not surprisingly - accrues to businesses and those that run them.

Two, more fundamentally what has been left out of this debate is the degree to which we have a progressive tax system and folks at the top are disproportionately taxed. In essence, half the population now pays no income tax, while the top 10% - consisting of those making more than $133,000 - pay 70% of the income taxes in the United States.

I’ve never been one to push for Jeff Bezos not having to pay some level of estate tax, and I’m certainly not a fan of rich folks that I don’t know...but a trucker married to a school administrator can easily have a combined income of $133,000. That doesn’t make them rich, but it does make them part of the cohort that pays 70% of the income taxes in the United States.

I think this is important as we analyze the tax vote and what it means going forward.