UPDATE: The Union-Brookings Tax Policy Center announced this afternoon that it had discovered a computational error in the report on which the following posting was based. It said a revised report will be issued.
The Washington Post reported that a source familiar with the error said the revised report will probably come to a similar conclusion overall, but the exact numbers regarding which taxpayers will benefit and will not will be different.
Based on the original report, I wrote the following earlier today:
President Trump and the Republican majority in Congress are determined to pass a new tax reform bill they say will put an end to the middle class getting the squeeze. But in truth, it is the middle class and the poor who will get screwed while the rich and the Trumpsters make out like a bandit.
It's like Robin Hood in Reverse.
In fact, the GOP tax bill will actually increase taxes for 12 percent of Americans next year, according to a nonpartisan report from the Union-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC). And, over the next 10 years, at least 28 percent of taxpayers will see their taxes go up.
Remember those promises from the Republicans that the typical family of four would get a tax cut of at least $2,000 a year, enough they said for a nice vacation or to remodel your kitchen. Really?
Actually, according to the TPC's report, those earning between $48,000 and $86,000 per year -- the middle of the middle -- would get a paltry average cut of $700 per year, while the top 1 percent with incomes of more than $730,000 would see an average reduction of $730,000. The top .01 percent, those earning more than $3.4 million, would enjoy an after-tax income increase of $179,000 next year.
Now, you might say that since the wealthy already pay more taxes than the rest of us it's only fair that they get a bigger share of the tax cut goody bag. Well, the TPC said, the middle class would get a 1.2 percent boost to their after-tax income, while taxpayers in the top 1 percent would get a 2.5 percent boost. The bottom 40 percent would get almost no benefit, with taxes for that group actually increasing $10 to $20, on average, by 2027.
Why is that fair? It's not. It's a wolf in sheep's clothing, or Robin Hood in reverse, whichever cliche you want to use.
Still GOP leaders continue to mislead as they desperately want to see something of consequence passed by Congress to fulfill last year's campaign promises. “We have to have tax cuts for people in the middle. This delivers that, and we really are convinced this is going to help get our economy growing and reaching its potential,” Ryan said on Fox News Sunday.
But, with all of the changes in allowed deductions, reducing the number of tax brackets, cutting the corporate income tax and phasing out the estate tax, among others, the bottom line is that the GOP's deficit busting tax bill is little more than a gigantic giveaway for the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us.
Thanks, GOPers, for that $700. Maybe we can take a camping trip someplace while you fatten your fortunes, or buy a new yacht, a new private jet., or maybe a swanky new vacation home.