House GOP tax plan would cut top income tax rates but also hit high earners with a surtax

But the tax system would be dramatically simpler, with seven existing brackets collapsed into just two, set at 10 percent and 25 percent.

In addition, the plan would impose a 10 percent surtax on certain types of earned income over roughly $450,000 a year. The surtax would hit many salaried professionals, such as attorneys and accountants, while dodging farmers and manufacturers — as well as the super-rich, whose income often is derived primarily from interest and investments.

The analysis by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, reviewed by The Washington Post, does not indicate which of the hundreds of tax breaks that litter the code would be sacrificed to clear the way for the lower rates.

But it does show that the legislation would achieve some of the most important goals of its author, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.): a simpler code that lowers rates and collects roughly the same amount of money for the government — all without burdening the poor or unduly benefiting the rich.