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Demonstrators against the Republican tax reform bill protest outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 30. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
While President Donald Trump used Tax Day as an opportunity to declare that ordinary Americans are now "winning" thanks to his deeply unpopular corporate-friendly law, a new report published Tuesday refuted Trump's rosy depiction of the U.S. economy under his leadership and found that--thanks to the Trump-GOP tax cuts for wealthy--healthcare, education, and other necessary public services face a "grim future."
"America's working families are, as usual, getting the short end of the stick from the new Trump-GOP tax law."
--Frank Clemente, Americans for Tax Fairness Conducted by Americans for Tax Fairness (AFT) in partnership with Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the new analysis shows that Trump and the Republican Party are moving to make up for the nearly $2 trillion crater their tax law is expected to blow in the federal deficit by pursuing crippling cuts to programs that millions of Americans rely on for survival.
"The Congressional Budget Office now reports that the tax cuts will add $1.9 trillion to the deficit--nearly one-third more than the $1.5 trillion estimated when the tax law was approved in December," the report notes. "This is close to the $1.7 trillion cut to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security disability programs, SNAP, and more proposed in Trump's budget."
Clearly depicting the Trump administration's priorities, one chart included in the report places the Trump's proposed cuts to safety net programs alongside just a fraction of the GOP tax law's rewards for the wealthiest Americans:

As safety net programs come under attack by Republican legislation, the White House budget, and Trump executive orders, AFT and HCAN note that the overwhelming majority of the tax law's benefits will go straight to the very top of the income distribution.
"When the new tax law is fully phased in, 83 percent of the tax cuts will go to the wealthiest one percent," the analysis notes, laying waste once more to Trump's insistence that the tax law was primarily aimed at helping working- and middle-class Americans. "The richest one percent will get a tax cut of $55,190, on average [in 2019]. The bottom 60 percent will get a tax cut of $440--about a dollar a day."
"America's working families are, as usual, getting the short end of the stick from the new Trump-GOP tax law," ATF executive director Frank Clemente said in a statement on Tuesday. "Tax reform should have helped working families get ahead, not tilted the playing field further in favor of the wealthy and well-connected."
"It's time to end tax breaks for the Koch brothers, wealthy CEOs and big corporations that shift profits offshore and outsource jobs."
--Rep. Keith Ellison
The new report by ATF and HCAN comes as polling data continues to show that most Americans are not buying the Trump administration's claim that the tax law was crafted with their interests in mind.
According to Gallup, just 39 percent of Americans approve of the tax cuts, despite the best efforts of right-wing big money groups to boost the law's popularity with expensive ad buys.
As Republicans struggle mightily to convince the public that corporate tax cuts are good for them ahead of the 2018 midterms, progressives are looking to use the tax law's unpopularity against the GOP.
In a Tax Day email to supporters on Tuesday, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) demanded the repeal of Trump's tax cuts for the rich and suggested that the extra revenue be used to fund infrastructure, education, healthcare, and other public priorities.
"It's time to end tax breaks for the Koch brothers, wealthy CEOs and big corporations that shift profits offshore and outsource jobs. It's time to end tax breaks for Big Pharma and greedy health insurance corporations. It's time to close loopholes that benefit the richest 1 percent and Wall Street," Ellison wrote. "Together, let's demand that our elected leaders put working families, children, and older Americans before wealthy campaign contributors and Wall Street."
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
While President Donald Trump used Tax Day as an opportunity to declare that ordinary Americans are now "winning" thanks to his deeply unpopular corporate-friendly law, a new report published Tuesday refuted Trump's rosy depiction of the U.S. economy under his leadership and found that--thanks to the Trump-GOP tax cuts for wealthy--healthcare, education, and other necessary public services face a "grim future."
"America's working families are, as usual, getting the short end of the stick from the new Trump-GOP tax law."
--Frank Clemente, Americans for Tax Fairness Conducted by Americans for Tax Fairness (AFT) in partnership with Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the new analysis shows that Trump and the Republican Party are moving to make up for the nearly $2 trillion crater their tax law is expected to blow in the federal deficit by pursuing crippling cuts to programs that millions of Americans rely on for survival.
"The Congressional Budget Office now reports that the tax cuts will add $1.9 trillion to the deficit--nearly one-third more than the $1.5 trillion estimated when the tax law was approved in December," the report notes. "This is close to the $1.7 trillion cut to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security disability programs, SNAP, and more proposed in Trump's budget."
Clearly depicting the Trump administration's priorities, one chart included in the report places the Trump's proposed cuts to safety net programs alongside just a fraction of the GOP tax law's rewards for the wealthiest Americans:

As safety net programs come under attack by Republican legislation, the White House budget, and Trump executive orders, AFT and HCAN note that the overwhelming majority of the tax law's benefits will go straight to the very top of the income distribution.
"When the new tax law is fully phased in, 83 percent of the tax cuts will go to the wealthiest one percent," the analysis notes, laying waste once more to Trump's insistence that the tax law was primarily aimed at helping working- and middle-class Americans. "The richest one percent will get a tax cut of $55,190, on average [in 2019]. The bottom 60 percent will get a tax cut of $440--about a dollar a day."
"America's working families are, as usual, getting the short end of the stick from the new Trump-GOP tax law," ATF executive director Frank Clemente said in a statement on Tuesday. "Tax reform should have helped working families get ahead, not tilted the playing field further in favor of the wealthy and well-connected."
"It's time to end tax breaks for the Koch brothers, wealthy CEOs and big corporations that shift profits offshore and outsource jobs."
--Rep. Keith Ellison
The new report by ATF and HCAN comes as polling data continues to show that most Americans are not buying the Trump administration's claim that the tax law was crafted with their interests in mind.
According to Gallup, just 39 percent of Americans approve of the tax cuts, despite the best efforts of right-wing big money groups to boost the law's popularity with expensive ad buys.
As Republicans struggle mightily to convince the public that corporate tax cuts are good for them ahead of the 2018 midterms, progressives are looking to use the tax law's unpopularity against the GOP.
In a Tax Day email to supporters on Tuesday, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) demanded the repeal of Trump's tax cuts for the rich and suggested that the extra revenue be used to fund infrastructure, education, healthcare, and other public priorities.
"It's time to end tax breaks for the Koch brothers, wealthy CEOs and big corporations that shift profits offshore and outsource jobs. It's time to end tax breaks for Big Pharma and greedy health insurance corporations. It's time to close loopholes that benefit the richest 1 percent and Wall Street," Ellison wrote. "Together, let's demand that our elected leaders put working families, children, and older Americans before wealthy campaign contributors and Wall Street."
While President Donald Trump used Tax Day as an opportunity to declare that ordinary Americans are now "winning" thanks to his deeply unpopular corporate-friendly law, a new report published Tuesday refuted Trump's rosy depiction of the U.S. economy under his leadership and found that--thanks to the Trump-GOP tax cuts for wealthy--healthcare, education, and other necessary public services face a "grim future."
"America's working families are, as usual, getting the short end of the stick from the new Trump-GOP tax law."
--Frank Clemente, Americans for Tax Fairness Conducted by Americans for Tax Fairness (AFT) in partnership with Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the new analysis shows that Trump and the Republican Party are moving to make up for the nearly $2 trillion crater their tax law is expected to blow in the federal deficit by pursuing crippling cuts to programs that millions of Americans rely on for survival.
"The Congressional Budget Office now reports that the tax cuts will add $1.9 trillion to the deficit--nearly one-third more than the $1.5 trillion estimated when the tax law was approved in December," the report notes. "This is close to the $1.7 trillion cut to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security disability programs, SNAP, and more proposed in Trump's budget."
Clearly depicting the Trump administration's priorities, one chart included in the report places the Trump's proposed cuts to safety net programs alongside just a fraction of the GOP tax law's rewards for the wealthiest Americans:

As safety net programs come under attack by Republican legislation, the White House budget, and Trump executive orders, AFT and HCAN note that the overwhelming majority of the tax law's benefits will go straight to the very top of the income distribution.
"When the new tax law is fully phased in, 83 percent of the tax cuts will go to the wealthiest one percent," the analysis notes, laying waste once more to Trump's insistence that the tax law was primarily aimed at helping working- and middle-class Americans. "The richest one percent will get a tax cut of $55,190, on average [in 2019]. The bottom 60 percent will get a tax cut of $440--about a dollar a day."
"America's working families are, as usual, getting the short end of the stick from the new Trump-GOP tax law," ATF executive director Frank Clemente said in a statement on Tuesday. "Tax reform should have helped working families get ahead, not tilted the playing field further in favor of the wealthy and well-connected."
"It's time to end tax breaks for the Koch brothers, wealthy CEOs and big corporations that shift profits offshore and outsource jobs."
--Rep. Keith Ellison
The new report by ATF and HCAN comes as polling data continues to show that most Americans are not buying the Trump administration's claim that the tax law was crafted with their interests in mind.
According to Gallup, just 39 percent of Americans approve of the tax cuts, despite the best efforts of right-wing big money groups to boost the law's popularity with expensive ad buys.
As Republicans struggle mightily to convince the public that corporate tax cuts are good for them ahead of the 2018 midterms, progressives are looking to use the tax law's unpopularity against the GOP.
In a Tax Day email to supporters on Tuesday, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) demanded the repeal of Trump's tax cuts for the rich and suggested that the extra revenue be used to fund infrastructure, education, healthcare, and other public priorities.
"It's time to end tax breaks for the Koch brothers, wealthy CEOs and big corporations that shift profits offshore and outsource jobs. It's time to end tax breaks for Big Pharma and greedy health insurance corporations. It's time to close loopholes that benefit the richest 1 percent and Wall Street," Ellison wrote. "Together, let's demand that our elected leaders put working families, children, and older Americans before wealthy campaign contributors and Wall Street."