Hillary Clinton said Monday that Donald Trump will leave middle-class Americans “in the dust” if re-elected to the White House.
Her argument centers on the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul he signed into law as president in 2017 that is slanted to the rich.
“On this Tax Day, look at the beneficiaries of Trump’s tax cuts from 2017. You’ll see who he really cares about—and who he’ll leave in the dust again if re-elected,” Clinton posted on X, formerly Twitter.
She cited a chart from the progressive think tank, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, that showed households with incomes in the top 1% benefit the most from the 2017 tax cuts.
The tax law, passed by Republicans without any Democratic support, lowered the corporate rate from 35% to 21% and cut individual taxes across income brackets for eight years. It doubled the standard deduction and enhanced the child tax credit. And it closed or tightened various tax breaks most notably by capping the amount of state and local taxes that can be deducted which had its biggest impact on residents of high-tax, largely Democratic-run states.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimated the biggest benefit of the new law would go to households making $308,000 to $733,000. Households making over that should get a tax cut worth 3.4 percent of their after-tax income. For the richest 0.1 percent (making over $3.4 million), the tax cut should be worth 2.7 percent of their after-tax income. For middle-income earners: 1.6 percent, the center estimates.
The vast majority of middle-class taxpayers — those earning between $49,000 and $86,000 — received a tax cut, albeit a small one. In 2018, nine-tenths of the middle class will get a cut, according to the Tax Policy Center. In 2025, 87 percent will. The tax cut won’t be very big: just $930 next year for the middle one-fifth of taxpayers, the center’s analysis concludes. For those paid twice a month, that’s about $40 a paycheck.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stories by Matt Arco
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.