Will Congress cut taxes for the wealthy?

President Trump announced his tax plan that will cut taxes for the wealthy and leave our nation with less cash to invest in great public services that strengthen our communities. Already, the House of Representatives already proposed more than $200 billion in cuts to nutrition assistance and education. $200 billion is equal to 367 million meals to hungry seniors and children and free college tuition for 11 million students. Estimates show that this tax plan will add more than $1.5 trillion to the debt or force even more massive cuts to education, infrastructure, and our community well-being.

There are many components to this tax plan and they all add up to a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. The wealthiest 1% will receive  an average $90,000 in benefit from this plan, while the middle class will only receive an average of $410. The average Ohioan will spend around $475 a year in car repairs that are needed from driving on roads in need of repair.

With all the moving pieces in this proposal, President Trump and Congressional leaders continue to talk about expanding the child tax credit and creating a new dependent care tax credit. But these issues are small by comparison to the massive tax cuts elsewhere in the proposal. These two tax changes will cost around $36 billion compared to eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)  which will cost $37.1 billion, the special tax rate for pass through entities which costs $70 billion, and reducing the tax rate by corporations which costs $150 billion. As you can see below, the tax cuts strongly favor the wealthiest individuals and not the rest of us.

House and Senate Leadership hope to pass this massive tax cut for the wealthy by the end of the year.  Some Republican Senators have already expressed concerns that this proposal will increase the deficit by too much and others are concerned that it will force budget cuts to public investments that are effective at strengthening our communities.