Trump's tax proposals "would
result in an increase in taxes for nearly 1 in 5 American households"
while cutting taxes drastically for the wealthiest Americans
As Trumpcare withers away in
the Senate in the face of fierce
grassroots opposition, two new analyses published on Wednesday show that
President Donald Trump's tax agenda—billed as his next big domestic
endeavor—would primarily benefit Trump himself and other wealthy Americans
while pushing a larger share of the tax burden onto middle class families.
"The top 0.1 percent,
earning above $3.4 million a year, would get an average tax cut of $937,700, or
a 13.3 percent boost in after-tax income."
—Dylan Matthews, Vox
—Dylan Matthews, Vox
Although Trump has yet to
release a detailed version of his tax plan, a new analysis by the
nonpartisan Tax Policy Center (TPC), released Wednesday, concludes the
proposals his administration has floated so far would, if enacted,
"provide the bulk of the benefits to the highest-income households."
TPC found that under Trump's
tax plan, around "40 percent of the tax cut would flow to households in
the top one percent of the income distribution, giving those earners an annual
tax cut of around $270,000."
In this regard, Trump's tax
agenda is perfectly in line with the Senate GOP's healthcare bill, which would
provide hefty tax cuts to the ultra-rich while deeply
slashing Medicaid.
As Americans for Tax Fairness
(ATF) found
in a study also published on Wednesday, among the principle beneficiaries of
the Senate's plan would be Trump himself.
ATF estimated that
"President Trump could get a personal tax cut of between $1.4 million and
$2.8 million a year" if Republicans succeed in repealing the Net
Investment Income Tax, a key Obamacare tax aimed at the rich.
"Now we know how much
President Trump stands to benefit personally if Republicans eliminate just one
tax on the wealthy under the Affordable Care Act," said AFT executive
director Frank Clemente. "Instead of giving himself a tax cut worth up to
$2.8 million, the president should keep his campaign promises not to cut Medicaid
and Medicare."
Trump and his advisers have
attempted to characterize their overall tax agenda as one that
would provide benefits to all, and not just the top one percent.
Analyzing TPC's new report for
the Washington Post, Max Ehrenfreund argues
that this is far from the case. In fact, he notes, TPC's data demonstrates that
Trump's plan "would result in an increase in taxes for nearly 1 in 5
American households."
"And among those in the
middle class, almost a quarter would see their taxes go up," Ehrenfreund
notes. "For households with annual incomes between $49,000 and
$86,000, those facing a hike would see an average annual increase of
$1,000."
For those lower-income
families that would see tax cuts under Trump's plan, they would be nearly
undetectable compared to those lavished upon the wealthiest Americans.
Vox's Dylan Matthews observed
that "the overall plan would give the average family earning under $25,000
per year a $40 tax cut, or a 0.3 percent boost in after-tax income. The top 0.1
percent, earning above $3.4 million a year, would get an average tax cut of
$937,700, or a 13.3 percent boost in after-tax income."
Matthews continued:
If you just look at the tax
cuts he's proposing, 60.9 percent of the benefits go to the top 1 percent of
Americans. That's a pretty astonishing tilt toward the rich. But if you look at
the combined effects of the cuts and the revenue raisers, 76.3 percent of the
benefits go to the top 1 percent, and 94.8 percent go to the top 5 percent.
Michael Linden, a fellow
at the Roosevelt Institute, broke Trump's tax
agenda down into three simple
bullet points:
So, to recap. Trump plan,
according to TPC:
Million $ tax cut for hyper-rich
Tax increases on 20-25% of everyone else
No econ boost
Million $ tax cut for hyper-rich
Tax increases on 20-25% of everyone else
No econ boost
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