Republicans in the House and Senate have insisted that their final tax bill will help middle class Americans. We TOTALLY believed them (sarcasm). Finally, though, we have the actual data — supplied by the Senate Joint Committee on Taxation, conservative friends — to show they lied.
First, how to read the charts, via PBS:
For each income group, a different colored bar represents the percentage of people in that income range who would see tax cuts, tax hikes or stay neutral. Green bars indicate a tax cut, with dark green indicating a larger tax cut (above $500). Red indicates a tax increase, with the deeper shade indicating a hike greater than $500. The grey in between shows the percentage of taxpayers that will see a relatively neutral effect (less than $100 either way).
2019
By 2019, wealthy Americans (and corporations) will see a larger tax break. Surprise! Raise your hand if you’re shocked.
via PBS:
The wealthier the group, the more people see a tax cut. Among those receiving cuts, wealthier Americans see a larger break. (That is not surprising, given that the wealthy’s tax bills are higher to begin with, soany cut will be nominally larger than for those in lower brackets). The lowest income group, earning less than $10,000, sees nearly no tax cut, though that’s largely because they have low or non-existent tax bills. Middle income groups see some tax cuts, though they’re largely less than $500 per household.
2023
By 2023, via PBS:
Five years from now, the tax bill starts to change the most for the lowest and highest incomes. Both ends of the income spectrum see tax increases begin to rise and tax cuts start to decline. Across incomes, fewer people are in the neutral zone — more people either gain or lose.
2027
In 2027, guess what? At the end of the day (or decade, rather), only the wealthiest Americans will see significant tax cuts.
via PBS:
The final year of the tax code dramatically illustrates the Republicans’ decision to make individual tax cuts temporary. The changes expire in 2026 and you see the result here: more taxpayers see tax increases, across all incomes. And only the wealthiest would see significant cuts.
Is there a silver lining to be found here? I guess it’s POSSIBLE that gut-punched idiotic and ill-informed Republican voters will finally see that the assholes they elected will never act in the best interest of their constituents. But it’s unlikely, in my opinion. The GOP will continue to spoon lies and BS to their ignorant base, who will continue to cheerfully eat it with shit-eating grins (see what I did there?) on their faces. Republican voters and the GOP will find a way to blame Democrats, and most importantly, GOP politicians know that their ignorant base is comprised of frogs that are slowly being boiled and won’t notice it until it’s too late.
Data source: Senate Joint Committee on Taxation (PDF)
