After failing to achieve the rest of his agenda, Donald Trump has moved on to tax cuts, or as Republicans call it “tax reform.” On Wednesday, he flatly claimed, “The rich will not be gaining at all with this plan.” From Politico:
“The rich will not be gaining at all with this plan,” he told reporters ahead of a meeting with a bipartisan group of House members at the White House.
No formal plan currently exists, but Republicans in Congress expect to unveil details of its effort to reform the nation's tax code by the week of Sept. 25.
For his part, Trump outlined four principles for tax reform on Wednesday: Simplify the tax code and make it fair; slash taxes “substantially”; encourage companies to hire Americans and grow in America; and return trillions of dollars that businesses have parked overseas.
But, Trump’s words do not match reality. To illustrate the point, here’s a five-second GIF that shows how starkly different the tax cut would affect the average middle class family versus the average millionaire.
As Richard Rubin of the Wall Street Journal noted, Trump’s comments seem to directly contradict the proposal the rest of the GOP is drafting:
Michael Linden, a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, broke down the cuts even further: