'You're Not Supposed to Say This Out Loud': GOP Lawmaker Admits Pushing Tax Scam to Please His Rich Donors

"Get it done or don't ever call me again."

That was the ultimatum a major donor reportedly gave Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) as the House GOP readies for a vote on their tax bill as early as next week.

.@RepChrisCollins (R-NY) on tax reform: "My donors are basically saying, 'Get it done or don’t ever call me again.'"

— Cristina Marcos (@cimarcos) November 7, 2017

As Common Dreams has reported, the Trump-GOP tax plan will overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Americans, but it is rare for a member of Congress to express with such clarity the fact that the priorities of rich donors are so often placed above those of the majority of Americans.

"Oops. You're not supposed to say this out loud," Topher Spiro, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, wrote on Twitter. "Putting donors over 38 million middle-class Americans."

According to an analysis by the New York Times published Monday, "Nearly half of all middle-class families would pay more in taxes in 2026 than they would under current rules if the proposed House tax bill became law, and about one-third would pay more in 2018."

This, the Times concludes, is "a striking finding for a bill promoted as a middle-class tax cut."

By contrast, the richest one percent would receive a massive tax cut that would grow even more generous over time, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.