Patriotic Millionaires on "Trump's Trickle Down" Tax Plan

Today, the Patriotic Millionaires blasted the Trump Administration's just-released Tax Plan. The group, which includes hundreds of America's wealthiest citizens, released the following official statement:

"The Trump Tax Plan is nothing but a payoff to millionaires and multinational corporations. It is an embarrassment to history, common sense and decency that any elected official continues to perpetuate the total fraud of Trickle Down Economics. Time and again that epic lie has served as the justification for taking money that belongs to the American people and handing it over to a few thousand well-connected political donors. They pretend it is a philosophy. This is not a philosophy, this is a pay off."

The group went on to make several specific points about some of the details of the tax framework:

- On the reduction of the top rate: "Lowering the top rate for America's richest people in the face of already destabilizing inequality is irresponsible bordering on immoral."

- On the repatriation of profits: "The Administration has decided to reward companies for essentially stealing American taxpayers' money by hoarding it overseas. How is that good for the middle class?"

- On the reduction of the corporate tax rate: "Randall Stephenson, the chief executive of AT&T is wrong. The correlation between lower corporate tax rates and more jobs is not 'very, very tight,' it is nonexistent. From 2008-2015 the company paid an effective rate of 8%, they laid off 80,000 people, and Mr. Stephenson cashed in $124 million in stock options. Companies do not hire more people when you lower their tax rate, they overpay their already overpaid executives."

- On the elimination of the Estate tax: "We can't wait to hear President Trump try to explain how a $4 billion tax cut for Ivanka and Tiffany helps the middle class."

- On the elimination of the AMT: "The elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax will virtually guarantee that thousands of Americas wealthiest people will pay no tax at all. How will be left holding the bill for that lost revenue? The middle class."

- On the territorial tax system: "President Trump's big plan to boost the middle class starts by helping multinational corporations avoid paying any taxes at all? That is absurd."

- On reducing the number of tax brackets: "If anything, we need more tax brackets. Someone making $5 million, $10 million, or $50 million a year should definitely pay higher taxes than someone making $400,000 a year. How can we even debate this?"