Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), has released a new 37-page report entitled “Subsidies for the Rich and Famous”, a scathing look at how millionaires and billionaires are profiting from the current federal tax code. Coburn’s report finds billions in potential savings to federal taxpayers in hand-outs to individuals that he says are not in need of the government’s help. This includes everything from disaster relief money to tax incentives and farm subsidies. In all, Coburn’s office finds $9.5 billion in benefits and $113.7 billion in tax deductions above and beyond what most are entitled. Annually, this amounts to enormous amounts of money that are going to the wealthy that, in a depressed economy where the government is struggling just to help the most disadvantaged and still maintain their bottom line, are not struggling and not in need.

This is indicative of the sea change in the Republican Party from this summer, when any whisper of tax increases (which included cutting tax benefits) was met with unwavering rejection. Now, with the increasing popularity of movements such as Occupy Wall Street and a greater presence of income inequality in the national discussion, the GOP is considering bills in both chambers that will begin to equalize our incredibly top-heavy tax code. This presents a bit of a knife’s edge for Republican incumbents looking to the campaign trail. On one hand they’ve been criticizing Democrats and President Obama in particular for inciting and supporting “class warfare”, yet must now consider cutting benefits and subsidies for the wealthy without ruffling potential donors feathers.

It’s undeniable that Coburn has opened a Pandora’s Box on the subject of our tex codes most wealthy beneficiaries. He writes in a foreward to the report (which is done up in typical Coburn style) the following passage:

“From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multi-millionaires are even receiving government checks for not working. This welfare for the well-off—costing billions of dollars each year—is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate.”

Republican leaders that had earlier been so vocal in their defense of wealthy and corporate tax beneficiaries have been conspicuously quiet on the subject in the last month or more, no doubt a course correction for the party’s leadership that had become out of touch with the mainstream American mandate.