Public Employee Press
Editorials
Crumbs for us, a feast for the rich
When President Donald J. Trump and GOP congressional leaders released the outline of their tax plan in September, they took pains to say middle-class families would benefit. They also insisted that the wealthy weren’t going to make out like bandits.
“I don’t benefit. I don’t benefit,” Trump said. “In fact, very, very strongly, as you see, I think there’s very little for people of wealth.” Bull.
Trump’s family would save $1.1 billion from the repeal of the estate tax alone, according to a New York Times investigation.
That’s not to mention the millions of dollars they would reap from other savings of the tax overhaul.
All told, the country’s richest 1 percent will receive up to 80 percent of the tax plan’s benefits.
While many working families will get some benefits, they get the crumbs.
And the plan would actually raise the taxes of the poorest Americans in the lowest tax bracket from 10 to 12 percent, according to Prosperity Now, an advocacy group for people with limited incomes.
Despite what Trump and his political allies say, the wealthy are going to make out like bandits.
The top 1 percent — who earn more than $732,000 a year — stand to save an average of $270,000 annually. That’s roughly the price tag of a four-year, Ivy League education.
Over the long term, working families could actually be harmed.
The “tax reform” plan would reduce federal revenue by $2.4 trillion from 2018 to 2027. The revenue loss could lead to deep reductions in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Corporations would also receive massive tax cuts. With an estimated $1.9 billion in cash and short- and long-term investments, the companies that would benefit the most already have enough cash to increase production in the United States while paying their fair share, according to Guardian contributor James H. Carr.
We believe it scandalous that the wealthy and corporations should receive this windfall at a time when the gap between the ultra-rich and the rest of us is nearly as wide as during the Great Depression.
Resist.
