Let's say we combine income and capital gains...

[hfojvt]

1. actually it would sorta piss me off too

First of all, let's take 1996, since that is closer to the way things ought to be, than now, in the post-Bush tax cut era. In that year 8.1% of tax filers had income less than $25,000 and more than $20,000. They paid an average tax rate of 7.9% or an average of $1,770 in income taxes.

Now let's take a richer group, those making between $50,000 and $75,000. 11.9% of tax filers fell in that group, but only 9.9% of tax filers were above that level. Now that group paid an average tax rate of 12.1% or an average of $7,338 in income taxes.

Your plan would clearly help that richer group much more than it would help the poorer group. BTW an astoundng 44.9% of tax filers in 1996 had less than $20,000 in AGI (doubtless some of them were teenagers).

But your plan would simply provide much greater benefits to households making $79,000 or even $90,000, than it would to households making less than $30,000.

I happen to be in that latter group, and I give two thumbs down to plans that give $500 to me and give $2500 to people making two or three times my income.