House Republicans unveiled their tax plan and came under immediate criticism for a plan that is massively tilted toward the richest Americans and biggest corporations.
As The Wall Street Journal detailed, “House Republicans, seeking the biggest transformation of the U.S. tax code in more than 30 years, aim to permanently chop the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%, compress the number of individual income tax brackets, and repeal the taxes paid by large estates starting in 2024, according to a detailed summary of the plan reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The GOP plan repeals the deduction for state and local income and sales taxes. It allows a deduction for property taxes, but caps it at $10,000. That limit applies to married filers and individuals.”
The Alternative Minimum Tax which cost Trump $31 million in a single year would be repealed. Mortgage deductions would be cut in half from $1 million to $500,000, which matters because without the deduction it is possible that housing sales could collapse.
The general terms of this legislation are the biggest and the richest get almost all of the benefits, while the American people and small businesses will get stuck with the bill.
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The National Resource Defense Council pointed out that polluters are some of the biggest winners in the GOP plan that also guts credits for clean energy, “The Trump tax plan would cut corporate rates from 35% to 20%. While it promises to close some business tax deductions, it is silent about eliminating the long-standing tax handouts oil and gas companies have received. Given the political power of this sector, it’s safe to assume that it wasn’t listed because the GOP has no intention of trying to eliminate them. That means wealthy oil and gas companies will get to keep the benefits while being rewarded with a 15% cut to their corporate tax and elimination of the corporate Alternative Minimum Tax as well.”
There is literally nothing in this plan that benefits the lowest 35% of taxpayers:
I’m not seeing *anything* that benefits lowest-income 35% of taxpayers, while top 1% and heirs of massive estates get giant tax cuts. https://t.co/iZlz68k6bu
— Lily Batchelder (@lilybatch) November 2, 2017
The Republican tax plan isn’t just an ideological statement of their belief in the magical trickle down fairy. It is also a massive payback and down payment on the 2018 election to their billionaire donors. Republicans are terrified that if they don’t come through with tax cuts for the rich, their donors will stop writing checks and they will lose Congress next year.
They don’t care that this is bad policy. The whole point of the bill is to give their donors what they paid for.
The Republican upward wealth redistribution plan isn’t a tax cut bill. It is a scheme to rob everyone else while giving more to the rich.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
