There's a reason Donald Trump's chief economic adviser has repeatedly refused to "guarantee" Trump's tax plan won't hurt the middle class. The Washington Post writes:
Despite repeated promises from Republican lawmakers that the plan is designed to provide relief to the middle class, nearly 30 percent of taxpayers with incomes between $50,000 and $150,000 would see a tax increase, according to the study by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. The majority of households that made between $150,000 and $300,000 would see a tax increase.
Those trends were credited to the loss of itemized deductions, particularly the ability to deduct state and local property taxes from income.
The loss of the personal exemption, which shields $4,050 of income from federal taxes for every household member, also would play a major role in increasing taxes for some households, the analysis found — an effect that would get worse over time because the amount of the personal exemption kept pace with inflation.
As you might have guessed, the biggest benefits go to the top 1 percent of income earners, with a household bringing in over $900,000 getting more than a $200,000 tax break, on average.
Bottom line: Trump is squeezing some middle-class and upper-middle-class Americans to give a tax cut to corporations and the wealthy.
“A major feature is tax collections would shift dramatically, from businesses to individuals,” said Eric Toder, a co-director of the Tax Policy Center.