A new analysis from the Center for American Progress has found that the tax cuts the GOP enacted in 2017, which Donald Trump has repeatedly lauded as the biggest in American history (cue Ron Howard: they weren’t), magically morphed into tax increases for more than 10 million American families.
While campaigning for president in 2016, Trump said, “Everybody is getting a tax cut, especially the middle class.” And — surprise! — just as we didn’t get “insurance for everybody” or a zeroed-out national debt, the Pollyanna dream of a tax cut for everyone proved too difficult to manage because … you know … rich people eat first.
And, hey, lots of people are noticing.
[T]hese numbers reveal that for millions of Americans, it is not just a misconception; their taxes actually did go up thanks to the law. Much of this had to do with the elimination of personal and dependent exemptions, caps on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions, and the termination of the employee business expenses deduction. The SALT deduction cap especially punished families in states like California, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, which rely on higher revenues and — likely not coincidentally — voted in large numbers for Trump’s opponent in 2016. An estimated 1,736,118 Californians and 1,211,721 New Yorkers saw tax increases, while just 624,481 Texans saw increases.
Steve Wamhoff, who authored the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s study [which the Center for American Progress study was based on], told ThinkProgress that the 10 million estimate is correct. “Most families did receive a tax cut from the Trump tax law,” he observed. “The real problem is that vast majority of the tax cuts went to people who do not need help. Half the tax cuts went to the richest five percent, which about a quarter going to the richest one percent. Those among the top five percent got bigger tax cuts not just in dollar terms but even when measured as a share of their total income.”
Of course, if you’re not already filthy rich and you actually expected Donald Trump to act in your best interests, I’ve got about 20 Nigerian princes I’d like to introduce you to. Things are getting so bad for regular Americans here in the land of plenty that, at this point, I’m just hoping they build the Soylent Green factory a respectful distance away from my patio.
And, yes, I know a lot of people did get tax cuts, but the GOP’s long-hoped-for domestic spending cuts will no doubt absorb those benefits like Trump’s placenta soaking up his mother’s three-martini lunches back in April 1945.
So, yeah, another day, more evidence of Trumpian bullshit.
Welcome to America in the Year of Our Derp 2019.
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