Trump’s long-awaited tax reform plan — which he promised would help working class Americans during the campaign — is being slammed by Democrats for being too lenient to big corporations at the expense of the middle class.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the plan was “little more than an across-the-board tax cut for America’s millionaires and billionaires.”
Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., did not buy the idea that the plan would actually help the middle class, saying, “If this framework is all about the middle class, then Trump tower is middle-class housing.”
Bernie Sanders said the plan was unfair to the average American.
"At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, President Trump's tax plan is morally repugnant and bad economic policy. The last thing we should be doing right now is providing hundreds of billions in tax breaks to the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in this country," he wrote.
The backlash wasn't limited to Democrats. The Drudge Report, the conservative's front page, had an ominous message of disapproval Wednesday, calling the "tax cuts" a "betrayal."
Yikes: how it’s playing on Drudge pic.twitter.com/lbggIDBnXW
— Brett LoGiurato (@BrettLoGiurato) September 27, 2017
Later in the day, the headline dropped the "betrayal" line, changing the teaser to "Republicans try tax cuts."
A major part of the Republican plan is to reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent — which is still 5 percentage points higher than the 15 percent Trump initially fought for, according to the Associated Press. On Wednesday afternoon, Trump said that he wanted 20 percent the entire time, but was using the 15 percent number as a negotiating tactic.
The plan supposedly will alleviate taxes on the middle class by doubling the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples. It also seeks to collapse the tax brackets from seven to three; rates at the bottom will rise from 10 percent to 12 percent and fall at the top from 39.6 percent to 35 percent, with the middle bracket falling at 25 percent.
Republicans also aim to implement a tax on foreign profits to make the United States more attractive for companies, according to The New York Times.
With the tax cuts for big business, the total tax cut over the next decade will be between $1.5 trillion and $7 trillion, according to three different estimates published in the Times. However, the report stated that Republicans claim that the plan will spur enough economic growth to make up for the losses.
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