After Donald Trump tried to market his tax plan blueprint in Missouri with empty rhetoric, reviews from experts found that, as has been the case with Trump’s entire economic agenda, it would hammer struggling Americans.
Trump’s tax proposal would instead further rig the U.S. economy for the wealthiest Americans – including Trump himself – with disproportionate and wasteful new tax giveaways, while failing to deliver the growth and opportunity that Trump promised the American middle class.
Here’s what they’re saying:
PUTTING TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY AHEAD OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
Washington Post: “Trump speech will bash rigged system. But tax outline would benefit 1 percent.” [Washington Post, 8/30/2017]
Bloomberg: “Tax policy experts have said the dozen bullet points the White House released in April outlining its principles would undoubtedly mean lower taxes for top earners, while the impact on middle incomes was less clear.” [Bloomberg, 8/30/2017]
Quartz: “Most of Trump’s tax cuts would go to taxpayers making over $599,300 a year” [Quartz, 8/30/2017]
Institute On Taxation And Economic Policy Executive Director Alan Essig:For every state, the average tax cut for millionaires would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. For those making less than $45,000, the average annual tax cut would be $300 or less. [Fortune, 8/30/17]
Roosevelt Institute Fellow Michael Linden: “Those are not exactly populist, keep-rich-people-from-rigging-
Institute On Taxation And Economic Policy Sr. Tax Policy Analyst Richard Phillips: “Speech Takeaway: Trump will continue to pitch his big tax cut for the rich and corporations as one for the middle class and the economy.” [Richard Phillips, 8/30/17]
Washington Post: “So far, the president has not advanced any proposal that would — on net — raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. While the officials said Trump is not planning to offer new details Wednesday, many he has offered in the past, such as cutting the estate tax and lowering rates on investment income, would likely lead wealthier Americans to pay less.” [Washington Post, 8/30/17]
Newsweek: “But the big things Trump wants to achieve in his version of tax reform, including lowering top rates for wealthier earners and eliminating the tax on large inherited estates, would disproportionately benefit wealthier Americans” [Newsweek, 8/30/2017]
CORPORATE RATE CUTS
New York Times: “Many economists, too, rejected the premise underlying Mr. Trump’s stated priorities, arguing that large corporate tax cuts would do relatively little – particularly in the near term – to boost wages or create jobs, instead helping the wealthiest Americans who can afford to invest.” [New York Times, 8/30/2017]
American Enterprise Institute DeWitt Wallace Fellow James Pethokoukis:“If business tax cuts have such wonder-working power, how come those lower rates In Europe don’t supercharge growth there” [James Pethokoukis, Twitter 8/30/17]
Institute On Taxation And Economic Policy Executive Director Alan Essig:“Yet the public is supposed to believe, without evidence, that cutting corporate tax rates will somehow compel these large firms to create more jobs.” [Forbes, 8/30/17]
CNBC: “When President Donald Trump travels to Springfield, Missouri, on Wednesday to stump for tax reform, he’ll rely on a well-worn argument that giving businesses a tax break will create more jobs. But while the argument sounds compelling, there’s little evidence to back it up. And a new analysis from the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning Washington think tank, throws more cold water on the idea.” [CNBC, 8/30/17]
Roosevelt Institute Fellow Michael Linden: “Second: Corporate tax rate cuts. This is foolish. Corporations are raking in record profits. They don’t need more tax cuts. 4/” [Michael Linden, Twitter 8/30/17]
PASS-THROUGH TAX RATE
Bloomberg: “For Bass Pro founder John Morris and other high-income owners of partnerships or pass-through businesses, ‘cutting the rate would be a windfall,’ said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. ‘If you are the great American small business owner, you might actually see a tax increase,’ since some small business owners already pay comparatively lower income tax rates.” [Bloomberg, 8/30/2017]
REPATRIATION
American Enterprise Institute Resident Scholar and Former Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Senior Economist Alan Viard: “Repatriation has little effect on real investment in the United States.” [New York Times, 8/30/2017]
Tax Policy Center Co-Director and former Senior CEA Economist (George H.W. Bush Administration) William Gale: “A lot of the funds got overseas in the first place via tax dodges, so giving firms a tax break on the money coming back seems like compounding the problem.” [New York Times, 8/30/2017]
Reed College Economist Kimberly A. Clausing: “It’s not clear that giving [multinationals] an even higher share of profits, or a windfall, is going to lead to extra investment.” [New York Times, 8/30/2017]
Matt O’Brien, Washington Post: “Trump’s fourth big tax principle is a tax repatriation holiday, one of the worst policy ideas ever dreamed up. Pure giveaway to shareholders” [Matt O’Brien, 8/30/2017]