Most liberals continue to claim that the Trump tax cuts were "mainly for millionaires and billionaires," "a giveaway to the uber-rich," etc., etc. But anyone can look at the tax tables and see with their own eyes that the top bracket a much smaller rate cut than did the middle-income brackets. The second and third brackets got a cut of 3 percentage points each, which equaled a 20% rate cut for the second bracket and 12% rate cut for the third bracket. The fourth bracket got a cut of 4 percentage points, or 14%. The top bracket--the one for people who earn $600K and above--got a cut of 2.6 percentage points, or just 6.6%. Don't believe me? Here are the 2017 and 2018 tax tables, which anyone can Google:
2017
Tax Bracket Tax Rate
$0.00+ 10%
$18,650+ 15%
$75,900+ 25%
$153,100+ 28%
$233,350+ 33%
$416,700+ 35%
$470,700+ 39.6%
2018 (under Trump’s tax cuts)
Tax Bracket Tax Rate
$0.00+ 10%
$19,050+ 12%
$77,400+ 22%
$165,000+ 24%
$315,000+ 32%
$400,000+ 35%
$600,000+ 37%
What's more, notice that the fifth bracket got a cut of only 1 percentage point, and that the sixth bracket got no cut at all.
Also, keep in mind that the rich got hit particularly hard by the tax cut bill's $10K cap on state and local taxes (SALT). Someone who owns a house worth, say, $2.0 million, will pay $26K just in property taxes, based on the nationwide median average of 1.3% for property taxes. Someone with an income of, say, $2 million per year will pay $100,000 in state income taxes, and that's assuming a low state income tax rate of 5%. So a rich person who makes $2 million per year and owns a house worth $2 million lost $116,000 in tax breaks because of the Trump tax cuts.
Finally, if any liberals cite the cut in the corporate income tax rate as justification for their false description of the Trump tax cuts as "mainly helping millionaires and billionaires," I would point out two important facts that debunk this nonsense:
One, the corporate income tax rate was cut to 21%, which put it in the range of the corporate income tax rates in Europe and Asia, which range between 18% and 21%. So this was an entirely sensible reduction that put our companies in a better position to compete with foreign companies.
Two, as part of the rate cut from 35% to 21%, the Republicans imposed a one-time mandatory tax on American corporate money parked overseas: 8% on illiquid/reinvested assets and 15.5% on cash and cash equivalents, which amounted to a tax of about $2.6 trillion on U.S. business profits held overseas.
2017
Tax Bracket Tax Rate
$0.00+ 10%
$18,650+ 15%
$75,900+ 25%
$153,100+ 28%
$233,350+ 33%
$416,700+ 35%
$470,700+ 39.6%
2018 (under Trump’s tax cuts)
Tax Bracket Tax Rate
$0.00+ 10%
$19,050+ 12%
$77,400+ 22%
$165,000+ 24%
$315,000+ 32%
$400,000+ 35%
$600,000+ 37%
What's more, notice that the fifth bracket got a cut of only 1 percentage point, and that the sixth bracket got no cut at all.
Also, keep in mind that the rich got hit particularly hard by the tax cut bill's $10K cap on state and local taxes (SALT). Someone who owns a house worth, say, $2.0 million, will pay $26K just in property taxes, based on the nationwide median average of 1.3% for property taxes. Someone with an income of, say, $2 million per year will pay $100,000 in state income taxes, and that's assuming a low state income tax rate of 5%. So a rich person who makes $2 million per year and owns a house worth $2 million lost $116,000 in tax breaks because of the Trump tax cuts.
Finally, if any liberals cite the cut in the corporate income tax rate as justification for their false description of the Trump tax cuts as "mainly helping millionaires and billionaires," I would point out two important facts that debunk this nonsense:
One, the corporate income tax rate was cut to 21%, which put it in the range of the corporate income tax rates in Europe and Asia, which range between 18% and 21%. So this was an entirely sensible reduction that put our companies in a better position to compete with foreign companies.
Two, as part of the rate cut from 35% to 21%, the Republicans imposed a one-time mandatory tax on American corporate money parked overseas: 8% on illiquid/reinvested assets and 15.5% on cash and cash equivalents, which amounted to a tax of about $2.6 trillion on U.S. business profits held overseas.
