Path 2

News Wednesday, Apr 26 2017

Trump's tax plan is a slap in the face to "the forgotten men and women"

Apr 26, 2017

Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office have been marked by dangerous incompetence and abandonment of the voters he pledged to help – especially working Americans.  His tax reform proposal continues this alarming trend; even his childcare credit is just another masked giveaway to high-earners that leaves working families in the cold.

“Donald Trump’s tax proposal is a slap in the face to voters who trusted him to deliver on his economic promises,” said Jessica Mackler, American Bridge President. “The values shown by this plan are the same that have defined every reckless economic policy that Trump has tried to force on the American people: taking from Americans who are struggling in order to benefit the wealthiest Americans, and throwing in sweetheart deals for himself and his own businesses. Trump’s tax reform would explode the federal deficit with some of the largest tax cuts in American history for the rich and for corporations while leaving families behind.”

The tax proposal comes as he negotiates with his own party to do so much as keep the federal government from shutting down and he rushes to sign feckless executive orders to create any signs of life he can for his legislative agenda in order to obscure his record of failure. In the process he is even shocking his own staff.

But as Trump’s approval ratings set record lows for any American president during their first 100 days, it is obvious that he cannot hide the truth from the American people: his populist rhetoric was all fraud, and he has turned his back on the families he referred to as “the forgotten men and women” only so he can pay for reckless new tax cuts and other benefits for the wealthiest Americans.

For example, to afford tax cuts for the rich, Trump’s budget proposal would cut-off lifelines for millions of people across the United States – including ending federal funding for Meals on Wheels and the Appalachian Regional Commission – and his Trumpcare plan would take health insurance from 26 million Americans as well as slam the most vulnerable families with much higher costs.

Shamefully, similar to how Trumpcare would yield millions of dollars in tax breaks for Donald Trump himself, this tax plan would also cut taxes on his own real estate companies.

Meanwhile, the early reviews of his economic agenda, including this latest tax reform proposal, are already in, and they aren’t pretty:

  • New York Times, 4/26/2017: “The 15 percent rate would apply both to corporations, which now pay 35 percent, and to a broad range of firms known as pass-through entities — including hedge funds, real estate concerns like Mr. Trump’s and large partnerships — that currently pay taxes at individual rates, which top off at 39.6 percent.”
  • Financial Times, 4/25/2017“A cut in the US corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 15 per cent would cost $2.2tn in lost revenue over 10 years, according to Alan Cole of the Tax Foundation think-tank.”
  • Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/25/2017“U.S. corporate profits are near their highest level in 85 years as a share of the economy, while employee compensation is close to its lowest level. Corporations don’t need major tax breaks; tax reform should focus on raising typical workers’ incomes.”
  • Tax Policy Center, 2/28/2017“Our analysis finds that about 70 percent of benefits go to families with at least $100,000 and 25 percent of benefits go to families with at least $200,000. Very few benefits go to the lowest income families who are likely to struggle most with paying for child care.”
  • Tax Policy Center, 4/25/2017“Combining a corporate tax rate of 15 percent with a top individual rate of 37 percent (another likely Trump proposal) would create a powerful incentive for wealthy people to squirrel away a large portion of their assets in a corporation.”
  • Tax Policy Center, 10/18/2016” …the highest-income taxpayers (0.1 percent of the population, or those with incomes over $3.7 million in 2016 dollars) would experience an average tax cut of nearly $1.1 million, over 14 percent of after-tax income.”
  • Associated Press, 3/15/2017: “Trump’s proposals to eliminate the alternative minimum tax, cut the capital gains tax rate and curb income tax rates would have shrunk his tax bill dramatically if they had been in place over a decade ago. The AMT alone was responsible for roughly 86 percent of his federal tax bill.”

 


Published: Apr 26, 2017

Jump to Content