How Much Did You Get

Trump’s Two Trillion Dollar Tax Break: How Much Did You Get

In December 2017, President Trump so called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), valued at nearly $2 trillion over ten years, promised to simplify the tax code, and put more money in the pockets of everyday Americans. But we as middle-class Americans need to ask how much of this massive tax break did we receive?

The TCJA slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, nearly doubled the standard deduction, and altered individual tax brackets, the benefits disproportionately favored the wealthy and large corporations, with only penny’s trickling down to middle and lower-income households.

According to the Pew Research Center, middle-class households are those earning between two-thirds and double the median household income, roughly $50,000 to $150,000 annually. The TCJA was less favorable for middle-class families in high-tax states.

Trump’s primary arguments for the TCJA was that cutting corporate taxes would lead to higher wages and job creation. While corporations saw substantial savings, these benefits did not actually translate into wage increases for middle-class workers. A 2018 survey found that only 14% of businesses increased wages or bonuses as a result of the tax cuts. Instead, these companies directed their savings towards stock buybacks and dividends, benefiting shareholders more than employees.

Trump’s so called tax savings actually added significantly to the national deficit, in total it increased our debt by about 7.8 trillion dollars in which many of us and our children will have to address in the years to come. The tax break was skewed so heavily towards the wealthy: the top 1% of earners received an average tax cut of $51,000, compared to monthly saving of $72.00 for middle-income households, according to the National Tax Policy Center.

Your vote is 2024 is vital let’s not make the same mistake we did in 2016.
By William Scott