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richard neal
GOP Confirms 2025 Tax Plan If Trump Wins: More Giveaways to the Rich
"There are 20 years of data showing trickle-down economics doesn't work, yet today will still be a whole lot of revisionist history and wishful thinking on the singular largest failure of fiscal policy in recent memory," said Rep. Richard Neal.
Apr 12, 2024
As House Republicans prepare for Donald Trump's possible White House return by plotting to expand the billionaire and corporate tax cuts that were the cornerstone of the former president's first administration, congressional Democrats and advocates for working Americans warned Thursday that a second Trump term would bring more of the same inequality-exacerbating policies.
The GOP-controlled House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing Thursday on "expanding the success" of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)—widely derided by opponents as the "GOP Tax Scam." Republican committee members couched a policy that the Center for Popular Democracy said "delivered big benefits to the rich and corporations but nearly none for working families" as "relief to help hardworking American families."
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the committee's ranking member, pushed back during Thursday's hearing, noting that "in the last three decades, Republicans have skyrocketed the deficit with trillions in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, always with the same result: the top 1% benefits while nothing trickles down for workers."
Neal continued:
In 2017, Ways and Means Democrats saw the GOP corporate tax giveaway for what it was: a scam. We knew that their Tax Scam would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and well-connected. We knew that it wouldn't pay for itself. We knew that big corporations, not their workers, would feel the most benefit. Six years since the GOP Tax Scam was signed into law, we've been proven right on every count. It didn't pay for itself, it didn't increase revenue, and it didn't increase wages.
A recent study whose authors included [Joint Committee on Taxation] economists—let that sink in—found that ALL of the corporate gains from TCJA went to shareholders and high-paid executives, with absolutely nothing flowing to workers. Fifty-six percent of the tax cuts enriched shareholders, and the remaining 44% lined the pockets of execs. Zero percent went to workers. ZERO!
"There are 20 years of data showing trickle-down economics doesn't work, yet today will still be a whole lot of revisionist history and wishful thinking on the singular largest failure of fiscal policy in recent memory," Neal added. "If workers and the middle class are actually your priorities, putting them ahead of big corporations and billionaires is the only way."
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.)—who also sits on the committee—agreed, asserting on social media that "the Trump tax cuts were a huge 'success' if you were a billionaire or an executive at a large corporation. They made out like bandits, with a huge amount of the benefits from the GOP tax law going to the wealthiest. Now Republicans want to give the superrich even more tax cuts."
Trump is open about this. At an exclusive fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last week, he shouted out his "rich as hell" supporters, telling them, "We're gonna give you tax cuts, we're gonna pay off our debt."
That's the same debt that soared by around $8 trillion during Trump's term—largely as a result of his tax cuts. Meanwhile, U.S. billionaires have collectively gotten $2.2 trillion richer since the GOP tax cuts took effect.
With many provisions of the TCJA set to expire at the end of 2025, progressives are underscoring what's at stake in this November's elections.
"Today the American people got a preview of what's in store for them next year if the Trump Tax Scam expires under conservative leadership," Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens said following the House hearing. "The conservative playbook for the 2025 tax fight is coming into focus, and we can be sure it includes more giveaways for the wealthy and corporations."
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House Hearing Puts 'GOP Tax Scam 2.0' in Spotlight
Following "recent Republican chaos, we're now back to their regularly scheduled programming: Cutting taxes for millionaires," said Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell. "They did it in 2017 and now Republicans are again pushing tax cuts for the rich."
Jun 13, 2023
House Republicans are poised to advance regressive taxation measures that would increase the federal deficit just weeks after they nearly blew up the global economy over ostensible concerns about the U.S. government's debt, eliciting condemnation from Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocates.
The Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing Tuesday to mark up the so-called American Families and Jobs Act (AFJA), which packages three bills: the Tax Cuts for Working Families Act, the Small Business Jobs Act, and the Build It in America Act.
This trio of bills—dubbed the "GOP Tax Scam 2.0" by the panel's ranking member, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.)—would expand Trump-era tax cuts whose benefits flow overwhelmingly to corporations and the wealthy. In the wake of demanding—and winning—sharp reductions in anti-poverty spending along with other reactionary reforms during negotiations to raise the debt ceiling, the GOP-controlled House is now moving to starve the federal government of essential revenue.
"It didn't take long for the MAGA majority's alleged debt 'concerns' to go right out the window in pursuit of more wasteful tax breaks for their billionaire donors and corporations."
"It didn't take long for the MAGA majority's alleged debt 'concerns' to go right out the window in pursuit of more wasteful tax breaks for their billionaire donors and corporations that ship jobs overseas," Liz Zelnick, director of Economic Security & Corporate Power at Accountable.US, said in a statement.
"If the recent past is prologue, the MAGA majority will try to pay for their trillion-dollar corporate tax giveaway on the backs of average Americans, including devastating cuts aimed at seniors, veterans, and the food insecure," said Zelnick. "Once again, the MAGA House majority has only corporations and the wealthy in mind."
Zelnick's sentiment was echoed by Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee.
"This is the most ill-considered piece of legislation that I've witnessed in years in front of this committee," said Neal. "Just 10 days after our Republican colleagues were prepared to bring the nation to the brink of default... to the precipice, if not over the edge, they now come back with a tax cut."
"Apparently, the debt only matters if it's about spending, never about tax cuts," said Neal, who lamented "$10 trillion of tax cuts" enacted in 2001, 2003, and 2017—years when Republicans held both chambers of Congress and the White House.
\u201cRepublican tax cuts are a masterclass in failed promises, lip service to small businesses and working families, only for them to end up with pennies. \n\nWATCH Ranking Member @RepRichardNeal's opening statement at the markup of the #GOPTaxScam 2.0 \u2935\ufe0f\u201d— Ways and Means Democrats (@Ways and Means Democrats) 1686668744
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) derided what he called the GOP's "tax scam 2.0" as one of the worst sequels in history.
"After months of some of you actually liking the idea of keeping other people hostage, some of you are back to the single issue that unites your party: Tax cuts for the well-off," Pascrell said in a message to Republicans on the panel. "It's far past time to retire" the argument that "tax cuts 'pay for themselves.' They just don't. You can't prove it."
\u201cAmid recent republican chaos we\u2019re now back to their regularly scheduled programming: cutting taxes for millionaires. They did it in 2017 and now republicans are again pushing tax cuts for the rich. The gop tax scam 2.0 is a worse sequel than Caddyshack 2!\u201d— Bill Pascrell, Jr. \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Bill Pascrell, Jr. \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1686674915
Among other things, the AFJA would expand corporate and business tax breaks enacted in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) approved by congressional Republicans and signed into law by then-President Donald Trump in 2017.
If the new proposal were to pass, the richest 1% of U.S. households would receive $28.4 billion in tax cuts (an average of $16,560) next year, compared with $1.4 billion for the poorest 20% ($40, on average), according to Steve Wamhoff, federal policy director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Because foreign investors own a substantial share of stock in U.S. corporations, they would also receive $23.8 billion next year under the legislation.
House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) has claimed that the cost of the tax cuts would be offset through a repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act's clean energy tax credits. But as Wamhoff explained in an analysis published earlier this week, deliberately hindering the nation's renewable energy transition would impose additional costs "in the form of greater climate damage."
\u201cThis is the classic tradeoff for Republicans\u2014slash programs for working people to fund MORE tax breaks for big corporations and their rich owners.\n\nShameful.\u201d— Americans For Tax Fairness (@Americans For Tax Fairness) 1686663793
Moreover, "the true costs are hidden by budget gimmicks," Wamhoff noted. "The most important budget gimmick is that the legislation enacts the biggest tax cuts for only two years even though its proponents plan to extend them in the future, making them, in effect, permanent."
According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: "The bill would cost $80 billion over a decade with interest ($19 billion before interest), including $320 billion through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2025. The smaller 10-year cost is driven by several factors but mainly by the fact that most of the bill's tax cuts expire at the end of 2025. We estimate that the plan would cost over $1.1 trillion ($950 billion without interest) through 2033 if these temporary tax cuts and extensions were made permanent."
The benefits of the 2017 TCJA "never trickled down," Americans for Tax Fairness tweeted. "Instead, the rich got richer and corporations made bigger profits. We should be repealing the Trump tax cuts, not making them permanent."
In a blog post published Tuesday, Chuck Marr and Samantha Jacoby of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities also urged lawmakers to "reject this bill and pursue tax policy that works better for the country as a whole—not just wealthy investors and high-income households."
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With GOP House Control Looming, Pascrell Calls for Swift Release of Trump Tax Records
"Donald Trump tried to hide his tax returns from our oversight but after 1,329 days we have finally obtained the documents," said the New Jersey Democrat. "We should review and release them."
Dec 02, 2022
It took U.S. House lawmakers more than three-and-a-half years to get their hands on former President Donald Trump's federal tax returns, but with Republicans assuming control of the chamber next month, Democrats are quickly running out of time to examine and publish the highly sought-after records.
"There is no one in this country... that is above the law."
That's the stark warning issued Thursday by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), who toldPunchbowl News: "There's a time factor here. We got [until] January 3. And that doesn't count up to too much time to me."
Pascrell's comments came after he and other Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee, which obtained six years of Trump's tax returns on Wednesday following a prolonged legal battle in which the ex-president fought against sharing the financial documents that all of his predecessors since the 1970s had willingly disclosed, met in Chair Richard Neal's (D-Mass.) office.
As Punchbowl News reported Friday, "Neal is facing pressure from Ways and Means Democrats to move quickly to analyze Trump's returns--and possibly release them to the public--before Republicans take over and make the whole question moot."
"But Neal is providing little detail about how he plans to spend the next 32 days," the outlet noted. "In fact, the Massachusetts Democrat wouldn't even acknowledge gaining access to six years of Trump's tax returns, citing privacy laws. His nonanswer comes despite the Treasury Department saying this week it had turned over the information to the panel after the Supreme Court declined to intervene in the long-running battle with Trump."
On more than one occasion, Trump--who officially launched his 2024 campaign last month--argued in court that if Democrats were to obtain his tax records, they would immediately leak them to hurt him politically. Neal's awareness of this claim was evident as he answered reporters' questions on Thursday.
"It's very sensitive information," said Neal. "We intend to deal with it professionally the way that we have."
In contrast to the committee chair's hesitant approach, multiple Democrats on the panel, including Pascrell and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), have made clear their desire to make Trump's tax returns publicly available.
Speaking with MSNBC on Thursday, Pascrell said, "I want them all released."
\u201cNo one is above the law. Donald trump tried to hide his tax returns from our oversight but after 1,329 day we have finally obtained the documents. We should review and release them.\u201d— Bill Pascrell, Jr. \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Bill Pascrell, Jr. \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1669926539
"These records are so important. The delay has been as long as the Civil War," Pascrell continued. "This is unprecedented in every way. This isn't about one man. This is not about just one part of the law. This is whether we affirm that there is no one in this country--be it the president, a congressman, or whomever--that is above the law. And we intend to follow through on this."
Democrats will be racing against the clock, however.
According to Punchbowl News:
The only real information Neal divulged was that he has appointed an undisclosed number of staff to serve as "agents"--experts who can officially review Trump's tax documents.
Democrats on the panel didn't get much more info from Neal in their closed-door meeting either, according to several members we checked with after. The discussion was tense at times, with members "extremely frustrated" about the lack of transparency regarding next steps with so little time left, one Democrat told us. Led by some of their senior colleagues on the panel, Neal was grilled about his intentions and offered little on his plans.
Doggett, for his part, predicted that "before January 3, we will get some opportunity to determine--probably in executive session--whether what [the agents] found justifies our taking some further action, which could include, but does not necessarily include, releasing those to the public."
"Personally, my opinion is that it'd be very difficult for even the most skilled agent to review these documents thoroughly," he added. "I believe that reviewing them thoroughly may well indicate the need to look at some of the documents we don't even yet have."
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