What a millionaire’s tax costs the government, in one graph

Liberals were upset when Nancy Pelosi demanded tax breaks for everyone with incomes under $1 million, arguing that the threshold should be $250,000 instead. Now they have more ammunition from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. If the cutoff for tax breaks is $1 million instead of $250,000, Pelosi’s proposal would lose the government $366 billion in lost revenue over the next 10 years, the CBPP points out in a new report, citing new figures from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation:

(CBPP)

Pelosi isn’t the only Democratic leader who’s caught fire from the left on the Bush tax cuts: Sen. Chuck Schumer has been pushing for a $1 million cutoff for tax breaks for years.

Of course, it’s uncertain whether Democrats will succeed in raising taxes on either of these income brackets. Republicans staunchly oppose letting any of the Bush tax cuts expire — a demand that would cost $4 trillion over 10 years. But given the magnitude of these fiscal choices, liberals think that Democrats shouldn’t be so quick to give so much up before the negotiations have even begun in earnest.