Does Kit Bond Think That 25% of Americans Are Among The Wealthiest 3% Of Americans?

Check out Kit Bond's argument in this Missourinet story about ending the Bush tax cuts for household income above $250,000 a year. 

President Obama is asking Congress to let tax cuts put in place by the Bush administration expire, but only for those making $200,000 dollars or more or couples earning $250,000 or more.

Bond says the cuts need to stay in place across the board...

Bond says four democrats and one independent voted against the measure on the Senate floor. The White House says 3 percent of Americans would be impacted...Bond says it’s closer to 25 percent.

Reasonable people disagree about the wisdom of allowing the tax cuts to expire for the wealthiest families.  Is now the right time?  How long should they be extended before addressing the deficits they are causing and will cause?  But the idea that 25% of Americans make $200k on a year (or $250k as a family) is crazy. 

Sadly, Missourinet doesn't provide any information to listeners or readers to help sort through the huge discrepancy between the White House and Bond talking points. In fact, it's entirely possible (likely, even) that the Missourinet story misrepresents a carefully crafted GOP talking point about the number of people who are "impacted" by a potential tax increase on the very wealthy.  The White House is talking about the people actually impacted.  And Bond may be talking about people once- or twice-removed from the wealthy taxpayers who would actually see their tax rates return to previous levels.   Or maybe Kit Bond is really off the rails here....

CNNMoney took a look at this dispute last week:

How many small business owners would President Obama's plan affect?

Obama wants to raise income tax rates on individuals making more than $200,000 and joint filers making $250,000 and up. That would affect 3% of all taxpayers who report business profits (known as "net positive business income") on their individual tax returns, according to estimates by the Joint Committee on Taxation, the tax gurus on Capitol Hill.

All told, we're talking about approximately 750,000 individuals.

How much small business income does that small minority generate?

Next year, an estimated 50% of all business income reported on individual returns will be generated by that small minority of taxpayers who file at the top two rates, the JCT estimates.

That comes out to nearly $500 billion. (The Bush tax cuts: What you need to know.)

CNNMoney also has a chart I found helpful in understanding the different proposals (and the "Let 'em all expire" scenario isn't actually a serious proposal from the White House or anyone in Congress).