(The Epoch Times) - Democratic leaders at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation’s capital declined to comment on a new analysis of IRS data showing that former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts benefited middle-class taxpayers significantly more than those in the top income brackets.
“According to IRS data comparing results from 2017 to 2018 – the first year of the Tax Reform Act – the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lowered the average effective income tax rates for tax filers across all IRS income categories. , with the greatest benefits for low- and middle-income households, ”wrote Justin Haskins of the Heartland Institute.
Haskins is director of the Center for Socialism Research in the Heartland.
For example, after accounting for all tax deductions and deductions, applicants with Adjusted Gross Profit (AGI) between $ 40,000 and $ 50,000 received an average tax cut of 18.2 percent, Haskins continued.
“IRS data also shows that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has had a strong upward impact on economic mobility. The number of filing parties with adjusted gross incomes of US $ 1 to US $ 25,000 decreased by more than 2 million in just one year, while the number of households reporting incomes above US $ 25,000 increased in each income group.
“The most significant growth was in the $ 100,000 to $ 200,000 group, which had more than 1 million applicants in 2018 than in 2017.
“The IRS data also showed that higher income earners paid an even larger share of the total tax burden in 2018 than in 2017, indicating that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may have made the tax code slightly more progressive “.
Haskins’ analysis is based on the public tax agency’s 2017 and 2018 revenue statistics database. On December 7, Haskins told The Epoch Times that he is currently updating the analysis with the 2019 data, which he says is like the trend seen in the 2018 data.
The Epoch Times asked several Democratic leaders for comment on Haskins’ analysis on Tuesday, but none were willing to respond. The Epoch Times also provided a copy of Haskins’ dataset, along with an invitation to comment on both his methodology and results.
Democratic leaders contacted included President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, N.Y., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D.C., House Majority Leader Stenie Hoyer (M.D.), House Committee Chair Representatives for Methods and Tools Richard Neal. (D-MA), and Chairman of House Financial Services Maxine Waters (D-CA).
In his standard speech during the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden pledged that the first thing he would do would be to “reverse Trump’s tax cut.”
Likewise, Schumer said during the Senate debate on Trump’s proposal that “every independent analysis has shown that this will ultimately lead to tax increases for millions of middle-class families. The Center for Tax Policy estimates that 60% of middle class families will see tax increases at the end of the day, and people earning more than $ 1 million a year will receive an average tax cut of $ 40,000. ”
The then Senate minority leader also asked, “Do millionaires need tax cuts at all? Are they doing so badly? Is there any research that shows that such tax cuts will make them work harder or create more jobs? No. No.
Like Sumer, Pelosi has repeatedly predicted that Trump’s tax cuts would actually mean that “86 million middle class families will see tax increases, touting it as a middle class bill. ”
In addition, the speaker told reporters at a weekly press conference in 2017 that “the tax cuts in the bill, 80 percent of the tax cuts in the bill, benefit 1 percent of the richest people in our country. $ 2.6 trillion in tax cuts goes to corporate America. About $ 475 million, sorry, $ 475 billion in tax increases goes to Middle America. … So he again raises taxes on the middle class, cuts taxes for the richest, increases the deficit by trillions. “
Republicans responded without hesitation when The Epoch Times requested their comment.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told The Epoch Times that “The Republican tax cuts have undoubtedly brought more money into the pockets of the American people. In the very first year after the 2017 law came into effect, taxes for Americans earning less than $ 50,000 fell by 26 percent.
“This is in stark contrast to the Democrats’ radical reconciliation bill, which will raise taxes for 30 percent of middle-class families. It will also free up another 87,000 IRS bureaucrats to squeeze more money out of American workers, including families earning $ 75,000 or less — all of which will give big tax breaks to blue-state millionaires. House Republicans are unanimously opposed to this bill because it contradicts middle-class American families. “
And Preston Brashers, senior policy analyst at the Herman Center for Tax Policy at the Heritage Foundation, told The Epoch Times that “Heritage looked at the income percentile problem and came to very similar conclusions. Any honest look at the data reveals one thing: Taxpayers in middle- and low-income groups saw huge direct benefits from Trump’s tax cuts. The data presented clearly refutes the idea that it was mostly just tax cuts for the rich. “
Brashers added that tax cuts also brought indirect benefits to individuals and families: “Average real weekly earnings rose sharply between 2017 and 2019 after largely stagnating over the past 20 years. Unemployment was at nearly a 50-year low; labor force participation has increased, reversing a steady downward trend. A strong economy has made American life better in every way. ”
In this regard, on the part of the Senate, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee condemned Biden’s proposal to increase taxes and expenses, which reinstates the full deduction known as the state tax credit and local tax on state taxes paid. This deduction primarily benefits high-income residents in high-tax democracies such as New York, California, and New Jersey.
“The Democratic Party, torn in half by controversy over how big tax breaks are for millionaires and billionaires, was not something that many people had on their 2021 bingo cards. The alleged “working class party” is dead and buried. As Republicans struggle to stem inflation and new reckless spending and taxes, Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats are busy trying to help their donors save a few dollars on their Hampton home, ”a spokesman said in a statement. NRSC T.R. Arrigi.
By Mark Tapscott
December 8, 2021
