AP Photo Jeb Bush defends tax breaks for wealthy He justifies them by saying the rich pay the most taxes.

The wealthiest Americans would receive sharply higher tax breaks under Jeb Bush’s tax proposal, the former Florida governor says, because they pay a disproportionate share of taxes in the first place.

“The simple fact is 1 percent of people pay 40 percent of all the taxes,” Bush said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Of course, tax cuts for everybody is going to generate more for people that are paying a lot more. I mean that's just the way it is.”


Fox Host Chris Wallace noted in the interview aired Sunday that economists assessing Bush’s proposal have found that while middle-class Americans would get a 2.9 percent boost in income, the top 1 percent would get an 11.6 percent boost – and Bush himself would save $3 million. “Does Jeb Bush need a $3 million tax cut?” Wallace asked.

“Look, the benefit of this goes disproportionately to the middle-class,” Bush responded, adding, “Because higher income people pay more taxes right now and proportionally, everybody will get a benefit. But proportionally, they'll pay more in with my plan than what they pay today.”

Under Bush’s plan, tax deductions would be capped at 2 percent of gross income, with an exception for charitable donations. He’d also couple that with a sharply lower corporate tax rate. And he’d simplify the tax code by enacting three tax brackets – 10, 25 and 28 percent. And Wallace pointed to analysis that Bush’s plan would raise the deficit between $1 trillion and $3 trillion.

Bush argued the cuts would stimulate growth and said similar cuts enacted by his brother, George W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan have been underestimated by “static thinkers on the left.”

“They created a dynamic effect of high growth. And that's what we need,” Bush said. “If people think 2 percent growth is OK, then we'll have more people living in poverty and disposable income for the middle class will continue to decline. We have to jump-start the economy so that people can have more money to make decisions for themselves.”