A study by the Congressional Budget Office just came out and found, not too suprisingly, that:

[T]he effective tax rate for the top 1 percent of taxpayers dropped from 33 percent in 2001 to 26.7 percent this year, a decline of 19 percent. The middle 20 percent of taxpayers saw a decline of 4 percent. . . . People in the top 20 percent of incomes, averaging $182,700 a year, saw their share of federal taxes decline from 65.3 percent of total payments in 2001 to 63.5 percent this year, according to the study by congressional budget analysts. In contrast, middle-class taxpayers — with incomes ranging from $51,500 to $75,600 — bear a greater tax burden. Those making an average of $75,600 had the biggest jump in their share of taxes, from 18.5 percent of all payments in 2001 to 19.5 percent this year.

Naturally, Democrats are saying I told you so, as well as they should. It shouldn’t be a secret that Bush, like a good little Republican, wants to implement that largest tax cuts for the rich. But I also found it interesting that Republicans defend Bush’s policies by saying:

Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said, “Because of President Bush’s policies every American pays less in taxes today than they did before he became president…John Kerry has promised to raise taxes during the campaign. That is the clear choice Americans will have in the fall elections.”

In other words, this is another example of politics at its best -- the same results of a study being used to support two completely different sides of an argument.