American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates released the following statement after National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn admitted the Trump tax plan is rigged to benefit big corporations - not the middle class – and that CEOs were the “most excited” about the Republican tax plan:
“The Trump Administration keeps sinking to new lows to sell their tax scam. Things may look different from Goldman Sachs headquarters, but middle class Americans know that they are the ones who need relief – not big corporations and CEOs. The country can’t afford an economy that’s rigged even more in favor of the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. Republicans are outright lying in order to raise taxes on the middle class just so they can finance new tax breaks for their campaign donors.”
Importantly, Fortune 500 CEOs have already declared that they plan to use the savings from Trump’s tax cuts not to create the new jobs Republicans that have promised, but to pay their shareholders more.
Interview Transcripts:
Part One:
Harwood: If you look at Joint Tax, $1 trillion in net cuts for business, $200 billion through the estate tax, and $300 billion for individuals. So, four times as much in business tax cuts and estate tax as for individuals.
Cohn: Yup. But, John, if you look at what we’re doing for middle-class taxpayers, the reality is kind of simple. The median-income family in the United States, the family that earns about $60,000 in the United States, the Speaker [Paul Ryan] talked about them getting a $1,182 tax cut. That family is now paying a marginal tax rate of less than 1 percent. They’re paying less than $500 of total taxes in the system. So a $60,000 earner, family of four, is paying less than $500. We have cut their taxes significantly. You can’t go much further in the tax system.
….
Cohn: We have achieved our objectives. We are delivering a middle income tax cut …
Harwood: Small.
Cohn: We are lowering corporate taxes to make ourselves competitive with the world.
Harwood: Big.
Cohn: Yeah.
Part Two:
Harwood: You, I imagine, are the point person in the White House for big CEOs because you come from their world, they know you. What are you hearing from them right now?
Cohn: The most excited group out there are big CEOs, about our tax plan.