There’s a refrain we hear almost by default when a Republican proposes tax cuts. Like Pavlov’s dogs or preprogrammed robots, Democrats rush out to decry “tax cuts for the rich.” How about this headline from The Guardian in 2019: Trump’s tax cuts helped billionaires pay less than the working class for first time — and that was two years after the tax cuts.
And don’t forget what one leading Democrat said:
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who now serves as the speaker of the House, said on November 6, 2017, “Despite Republicans’ empty promises to cut taxes for middle class working families, it’s clear that the GOP tax plan for the wealthiest is rich indeed.”
“House Republicans’ tax bill would increase taxes for 12 percent of Americans next year, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center,” Pelosi added.
“The truth is already catching up with the GOP’s snake oil pitch,” Pelosi concluded. “Instead of pushing a deficit-exploding handout to corporations and the wealthy that increases taxes on millions of hard-working families, Republicans must join Democrats to work on bipartisan tax reform that puts the middle class first.”
There’s more:
This is the primary reason we’re having to raise the US debt ceiling: the Trump tax cuts of 2017 for corporations and the rich made at the expense of the middle class and poor. pic.twitter.com/NQ2cL2caN1
— Ken Penders (@KenPenders) October 8, 2021
Aren't they just using the same process Republicans used to push through the tax cuts for the rich in 2017?
Unlike your trump tax cuts, Democrats are actually using the process to help normal people whose lives have been turned upside down due to the pandemic.
— Natalie ✨ (@heyitsmenatalee) February 3, 2021
After the 2017 Trump Tax Cuts ✂️ For the Rich, Dozens of the Wealthiest Corporations and Individuals No Longer help Pay America's Bills. pic.twitter.com/x5VcU7KaMp
— Western Sky (@WesternSky14) July 15, 2021
Related: Treasury Department Proves That Lower Corporate Tax Rates Produce More Revenue
Well, there’s some new analysis that’s come down the pike that should make the Democrats’ heads spin.
Justin Haskins of the Heartland Institute reports that the 2017 Trump tax cuts actually benefitted — gasp — the middle class.
According to data from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service comparing outcomes from 2017 to 2018—the first year the tax reform law went into effect—the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced average effective income tax rates for filers in every one of the IRS’s income brackets, with the largest benefits going to lower- and middle-income households.
For example, after accounting for all tax deductions and credits, filers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $40,000 to $50,000 received an average tax cut of 18.2 percent.
Oh, but there’s more. The tax cuts helped people improve their standard of living — and we’re not talking about the filthy rich here:
The IRS data further show that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act appeared to have a strong upward effect on economic mobility. The number of filers with an adjusted gross income of $1 to $25,000 decreased by more than 2 million in just one year, while the number of households reporting incomes higher than $25,000 increased in every income bracket.
And, lest you think that those robber barons in the higher echelons of American society paid less as a result of these tax cuts, you better think again:
The IRS data also revealed that higher-income earners paid an even larger share of the total tax burden in 2018 than they did in 2017, indicating that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may have made the tax code slightly more progressive. This finding contradicts the countless statements made by Democrats over the past four years criticizing TCJA as legislation that favored wealthier filers.
In 2017, filers earning $500,000 or more paid 38.9 percent of all personal income tax revenues. In 2018, the same income bracket paid 41.5 percent of total income tax revenues.
That’s right. Looks like the rich “paid their fair share,” to borrow another of the left’s pet terms.
So what have we learned today, kids? That when the Democrats speak about Trump’s “tax cuts for the rich,” they’re lying through their teeth.
It seems like it would be enough to make them swear off the phrase the next time a Republican president or Congress wants to cut taxes.
Bet they don’t.
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