Income tax rates are at the center of many recent policy debates over taxes. On the one hand, some argue that raising tax rates, especially on higher income taxpayers, to increase tax revenues is part of the solution for long-term debt reduction. For example, in the 112th Congress the Senate passed the Middle Class Tax Cut Act (S. 3412), which would allow the 2001 and 2003 Bush-era tax cuts to expire for taxpayers with income over $250,000 ($200,000 for single taxpayers). 3 On the other hand, others argue that maintaining low tax rates is necessary to foster economic growth. For example,.