After Donald Trump held the annual Turkey pardoning, Bridge Project released a new social media graphic, which is being promoted with a digital ad campaign, showing how many Thanksgiving meals could be purchased with the amount of money middle class families would lose to tax hikes if Senate Republicans pass the Trump tax bill.
Using data from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center’s new analysis of the Senate Republican tax plan as well as Thanksgiving dinner pricing information from the American Farm Bureau, Bridge Project determined that, to help cut taxes by $32,000 on average for the wealthiest 1% of earners – and for big business – the Trump-Republican tax plan would raise taxes on most middle class Americans by the cost of over 28 Thanksgiving dinners.
“As families gather all over the country to share Thanksgiving meals together, Donald Trump and Republicans are racing to pass a tax bill that would hammer the American middle class and working families in order to cut taxes for the rich and big business,” said American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates. “Trump may pardon a turkey, but he’s trying to economically gut the middle class.”
Yesterday, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center released a new analysis showing that the Senate Republican tax plan would raise taxes on half of American taxpayers – including roughly two thirds of the American middle class and one third of working families. On top of that, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Senate tax bill would take healthcare coverage from 13 million Americans and raise premiums across the board. A host of economic experts as well as labor unions are also warning that the plan would encourage the outsourcing of American jobs.
According to the American Farm Bureau, the average cost of a Thanksgiving meal for 10 people is $49.87 ($4.99 per person). At the same time, the Tax Policy Center finds that the Senate Republican tax plan would ultimately increase taxes for middle class families earning from $55,000 to $93,000 by roughly $140 a year. This means that, if the Senate Republican tax bill becomes law, it wold hike taxes for most middle class families by the cost of over 28 Thanksgiving meals – all to give new tax cuts averaging $32,000 per person to the richest 1% of Americans and give permanent tax cuts to corporations.
The poorest Americans, those making $28,000 or under, would have to pay $80 in taxes under the Senate Republican proposal, the cost of over 16 Thanksgiving meals.