Al Sharpton: Trump Voters Want to See His ‘Priority Is Me’

WASHINGTON – Rev. Al Sharpton, host of Politics Nation on MSNBC, told PJM that President Trump’s proposal to lower the corporate tax rate to 15 percent would not “reap a lot of jobs” or help “average” Americans who voted for the businessman.

Sharpton said a poor person in the Rust Belt who voted for Trump wants to see that his “priority is me.”

Sharpton, the president of the National Action Network, was asked if he supported Trump’s proposal to bring down the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent.

“I mean, I think it’s good for corporations, but what about the average person that he promised help for? They get a minimal decrease, and a huge increase for those that benefit from the corporate tax rate going down – a huge benefit for investment and those that benefit from the tax breaks of passing on their, let’s say, the taxes that they were getting, a higher bracket tax, in terms of if you’re [getting] an inheritance, that’s the word I’m looking for. I think when you balance it, it’s much more beneficial to corporations and the wealthy than it is the minimal middle-class tax for people that really need a real break,” Sharpton said at the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

When asked if he thinks the corporate tax rate is too high or not, Sharpton replied, “I think bringing it down some may be good, but you should have it a middle-class tax cut that is much more substantive. There’s no evidence that lowering the corporate tax is going to reap a lot of jobs.”

Sharpton was asked if he agreed with Trump’s plan for across-the-board cuts for the individual tax rates.

“If you’ve got $10 and I have $1 and we say we are going to cut everybody a dime, you only gave me a pat on the back, I’ve given you a whole surgery – so the comparison is that rich people are getting a lot more because it’s across the board. They have a lot more when that percentage is dropped that they saved,” he said.

Sharpton said Trump should lower taxes for the middle class but not cut the top tax rate, which is currently 39.6 percent.

“I think it would be better for the people he promised. Again, if I’m a poor guy in Pennsylvania that voted for him or Wisconsin, I would want to see the priority is me,” he said. “So I’m not even going by what Al Sharpton thinks. I’m going by what Donald Trump promised.”