National Priorities Project, with support from Citizens for Tax Justice, has launched www.costoftaxcuts.com.

A rolling counter depicts the amount of money lost to the U.S. Treasury as a result of tax cuts for the top 5% of U.S. wage earners – $3.2 per millisecond. The site also features rolling counters for the top 1% and next 4% of households.

National Priorities Project, with support from Citizens for Tax Justice, has launched www.costoftaxcuts.com.

A rolling counter depicts the amount of money lost to the U.S. Treasury as a result of tax cuts for the top 5% of U.S. wage earners – $3.2 per millisecond. The site also features rolling counters for the top 1% and next 4% of households.

In total, the top 5% of wage earners live in 1.4 million households. They earn $477,453 per year, on average, and will receive an average tax cut of $66,384 in 2011. Conversely, the bottom 20% of wage earners will receive an average tax cut of id="mce_marker"07 this year. The wealthiest 5% of Americans earn 33% of all U.S. income.

Between 2001 and the current projected end of the tax cut extension, tax cuts for the wealthiest 5% will cost the U.S. Treasury id="mce_marker".184 trillion. If extended through 2021 as some lawmakers propose, the total cost will exceed $3.2 trillion.

www.costoftaxcuts.com also features a detailed look at the average income and tax cuts for the top 1% and the poorest 20%. Among the findings: the wealthiest 1% receive an average annual tax cut greater than the average annual income of the remaining 99% of U.S. households.

If tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are extended through 2021, the projected amount ofadditional foregone revenue to the U.S. Treasury over the next decade would exceed $2 trillion.

National Priorities Project also maintains www.costofwar.com. For more information:www.nationalpriorities.org or 413.584.9556.