"GOP and Trickle Down Tax Cuts" Redux for Umpteenth Time or More

Think Hard About the Impact of the GOP Tax Bill

Now Reflect on This GOP BS Myth Since 1981

Trump has promised and always implies he will: “Give the American people a huge tax cut for Christmas — hopefully that will be a great, big, beautiful Christmas present.”

Unfortunately for millions of Americans, what they will be getting instead is a lump of coal in the form of a tax increase — courtesy of the GOP.

When George W. Bush campaigned for his 2001 tax cuts, he was able to truthfully say: “Everybody who pays taxes is going to get tax relief.”

Sadly, Republicans can't say that today, because it isn't true.

KEY POINTS:

1.  The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) says almost 1 in 10 Americans would see their tax bills go up under the Senate version, and the Tax Policy Center comes to a similar conclusion.

2.  In 2019, about 9 percent of all taxpayers would see an average tax increase of about $2,700, including about 11 percent of middle-income taxpayers, who would see their tax bills rise by nearly $1,000.

3.  In 2025, 12 percent of taxpayers would see an average increase of $2,750, with 14 percent of middle-income taxpayers seeing their tax bills rise by $1,170.

4.  In all, 76 percent of Americans would see their taxes go down under the Senate bill, while a quarter of all taxpayers would either see no benefit or see their tax bills go up — in many cases substantially.

There are four words that no American should ever be able to utter: “Republicans raised my taxes.”

To be clear, Democrats err when they claim that half the country will see a tax increase when the individual tax cuts expire in 2025 under the Senate bill, because everyone knows that they won't all be allowed to expire — just like the Bush tax cuts were not allowed to expire under President Barack Obama except for those at the very top. But there are millions of Americans, including individuals and families at every income level, who would see their taxes hiked under the GOP plan.

At the AEI a reporter asked House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) about that.

Brady replied: “I dispute those analyses because they describe an America that doesn't exist, an America where the economy never grows, and paychecks never increase.”

Then he pointed to a recent analysis in the Wall Street Journal by conservative economists who say tax reform would boost GDP by 3 to 4 percent long term, and said that as a result: “You're going to see increases in paychecks. That matters for families as well. So, there's more than just the rates in this tax reform.”

In other words, even those who see their tax bills go up will be better off under the GOP plan.

That is a hard sell to voters. A new poll shows that while 73 percent of Americans believe in principle that Congress should cut taxes on individuals and small businesses and simplify the tax code, a 54 percent majority oppose the current Republican tax reform plans working their way through Capitol Hill.

Why? Because 54 percent of Americans believe Republicans are going to raise their taxes. Many are wrong, but some are not. This should not even be a question in voters' minds.

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My 2 Cents: Fall for the hype at your own risk – are you willing to take that chance on the words of this GOP – knowing all we know?

Stay tuned, and thanks for stopping by.