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Making Struggling Workers and Families Foot the Bill, Corporate America Paying Lowest Share of Taxes Since Eisenhower Era

Ford announced this week that it is slashing 7,000 jobs after receiving a $750 million windfall from President Donald Trump's tax law. (Photo: Getty Images)

Making Struggling Workers and Families Foot the Bill, Corporate America Paying Lowest Share of Taxes Since Eisenhower Era

"Republicans sold the tax scam as a way to create jobs and help workers. They lied," wrote Sen. Bernie Sanders after Ford announced it is cutting 7,000 jobs

With workers at Ford, AT&T, and other large companies facing layoffs and wage stagnation following the passage of President Donald Trump's tax cuts in 2017, IRS figures released Tuesday showed that corporate America--even as it rakes in record profits--is paying its lowest share of federal taxes since the Eisenhower presidency.

"Ford got nearly $750 million in tax breaks from the Trump tax scam and paid its CEO $18 million last year. Now, Ford is laying off thousands of workers."
--Sen. Bernie Sanders

"Businesses contributed 7.6 percent of the $3.5 trillion in total tax revenue collected for fiscal-year 2018... a two percentage point decline from the previous year," CBS News reported.

According to CBS, that is the smallest share of federal income taxes corporations have paid in "nearly 60 years."

With U.S. companies paying less, and in some cases zero, in federal taxes thanks to the Trump-GOP law--which slashed the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent--individuals are now taking on a larger share of the nation's tax burden.

Individuals accounted for 57 percent of federal tax revenue in 2018, compared with 54 percent the previous year, CBS reported.

The new IRS data came just a day after Ford--which reaped a massive windfall thanks to the Trump tax cuts--announced it is eliminating 7,000 jobs as part of a "massive organizational restructuring" effort, which the company expects will save as much as $600 million per year.

Following Ford's announcement, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called out Republicans for falsely promising that massive tax cuts for corporations would reward workers.

"Ford got nearly $750 million in tax breaks from the Trump tax scam and paid its CEO $18 million last year. Now, Ford is laying off thousands of workers," Sanders, a 2020 presidential candidate, tweeted Monday. "The bottom line: Republicans sold the tax scam as a way to create jobs and help workers. They lied."

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