SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and his colleagues have promoted their tax plan as a win for middle-class families, but analysis shows otherwise. (Photo: @ChicagoTribune/Twitter)
Yet Another Analysis Shows How Trump-GOP Tax Scam Will Bury Middle Class
"The GOP tax plan is a simple political statement about who matters more in American democracy: the heirs to hedge fund fortunes or everyone else in the country."
Nov 07, 2017
Critics of the Republican tax plan say it offers a crystal-clear view of which Americans matter to the Trump administration and the Party in control of Congress--and which don't. Despite an aggressive push to portray the proposal as a tax cut for middle-class Americans, according to a New York Times analysis, millions of middle-income families would pay more in taxes immediately--and many more would see their tax bills rise over time.
"The GOP tax plan is a simple political statement about who matters more in American democracy: the heirs to hedge fund fortunes or everyone else in the country," wrote Zach Carter in the Huffington Post on Monday. "Trump and the Republicans have chosen the dynasts."
The analysis by the Times, similar to one shown by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), finds that 45 percent of middle-class Americans would be paying more in taxes within a decade, even if they see some modest relief initially. As theTimes notes, it's "a striking finding for a bill promoted as a middle-class tax cut."
Due to the elimination of personal exemptions, which allows many taxpayers to deduct $4,000 per household member, the tax plan would immediately be costly for many families with children. According to the Times, "Fewer than 40 percent of middle-class families with at least three children would receive a tax cut under the plan, compared with nearly 80 percent of families without children."
Households with large medical bills would be hit hard in 2018 as well, following the proposal's elimination of medical expenses deductions. Overall, about a third of middle-class families would pay more in 2018 than they do now--far from the rescue package House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) portrayed the tax plan as last week.
"These are matters of justice, social prestige, and political power," Carter wrote in the Huffington Post, regarding the GOP's insistence on . "There is no economic law that governs how the $19 trillion [in national wealth] we produce each year must be distributed. Figuring out who should get how much of that $19 trillion is a political choice--and the Republicans' choice is to give much of that money to a few hundred financial dynasties."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Critics of the Republican tax plan say it offers a crystal-clear view of which Americans matter to the Trump administration and the Party in control of Congress--and which don't. Despite an aggressive push to portray the proposal as a tax cut for middle-class Americans, according to a New York Times analysis, millions of middle-income families would pay more in taxes immediately--and many more would see their tax bills rise over time.
"The GOP tax plan is a simple political statement about who matters more in American democracy: the heirs to hedge fund fortunes or everyone else in the country," wrote Zach Carter in the Huffington Post on Monday. "Trump and the Republicans have chosen the dynasts."
The analysis by the Times, similar to one shown by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), finds that 45 percent of middle-class Americans would be paying more in taxes within a decade, even if they see some modest relief initially. As theTimes notes, it's "a striking finding for a bill promoted as a middle-class tax cut."
Due to the elimination of personal exemptions, which allows many taxpayers to deduct $4,000 per household member, the tax plan would immediately be costly for many families with children. According to the Times, "Fewer than 40 percent of middle-class families with at least three children would receive a tax cut under the plan, compared with nearly 80 percent of families without children."
Households with large medical bills would be hit hard in 2018 as well, following the proposal's elimination of medical expenses deductions. Overall, about a third of middle-class families would pay more in 2018 than they do now--far from the rescue package House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) portrayed the tax plan as last week.
"These are matters of justice, social prestige, and political power," Carter wrote in the Huffington Post, regarding the GOP's insistence on . "There is no economic law that governs how the $19 trillion [in national wealth] we produce each year must be distributed. Figuring out who should get how much of that $19 trillion is a political choice--and the Republicans' choice is to give much of that money to a few hundred financial dynasties."
Critics of the Republican tax plan say it offers a crystal-clear view of which Americans matter to the Trump administration and the Party in control of Congress--and which don't. Despite an aggressive push to portray the proposal as a tax cut for middle-class Americans, according to a New York Times analysis, millions of middle-income families would pay more in taxes immediately--and many more would see their tax bills rise over time.
"The GOP tax plan is a simple political statement about who matters more in American democracy: the heirs to hedge fund fortunes or everyone else in the country," wrote Zach Carter in the Huffington Post on Monday. "Trump and the Republicans have chosen the dynasts."
The analysis by the Times, similar to one shown by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), finds that 45 percent of middle-class Americans would be paying more in taxes within a decade, even if they see some modest relief initially. As theTimes notes, it's "a striking finding for a bill promoted as a middle-class tax cut."
Due to the elimination of personal exemptions, which allows many taxpayers to deduct $4,000 per household member, the tax plan would immediately be costly for many families with children. According to the Times, "Fewer than 40 percent of middle-class families with at least three children would receive a tax cut under the plan, compared with nearly 80 percent of families without children."
Households with large medical bills would be hit hard in 2018 as well, following the proposal's elimination of medical expenses deductions. Overall, about a third of middle-class families would pay more in 2018 than they do now--far from the rescue package House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) portrayed the tax plan as last week.
"These are matters of justice, social prestige, and political power," Carter wrote in the Huffington Post, regarding the GOP's insistence on . "There is no economic law that governs how the $19 trillion [in national wealth] we produce each year must be distributed. Figuring out who should get how much of that $19 trillion is a political choice--and the Republicans' choice is to give much of that money to a few hundred financial dynasties."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.