New Study: Trump Cut Corporations’ Taxes by $150 Billion, They Gave Workers $6 Per Week Raise

President Donald Trump and the Republican Party massively slashed taxes on corporations in 2017 but those companies spent only about 6% of their tax savings on their workers, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity and The Guardian.

The organization found that the 2017 Tax and Jobs Act cut taxes by about 14% on corporations, or about $150 billion.

Trump at the time promised that the cuts would resolve in “around a $4,000 pay raise” for the average American household.

Instead, The Guardian reports, the “bulk of the $150bn the tax cut put into the hands of corporations in 2018 went into shareholder dividends and stock buy-backs, both of which line the pockets of the 10% of Americans who own 84% of the stocks.”

Corporations spent just 6% of the savings on workers, resulting in a $233 average annual raise -- or $6.21 per week.

Meanwhile, the bill cost taxpayers $1.5 trillion, further driving up the national debt.

“It would seem appropriate for employers to share their tax savings with their workers – for example, through new employer 401k plan contributions or wage increases,” said retirement expert J. Mark Iwry.

Study finds Trump’s tax cuts are “hugely problematic”:

The study found that the bill was “first and foremost a gift to multinationals,” The Guardian reported. The “posturing about real ‘reform of the tax code and ‘revenue neutrality for the legislation was meaningless” because it massively increased the debt to pay for the corporate cuts.

“The bill as passed was hugely problematic,” the report added. “It contained egregious mistakes, created massive new loopholes and opened the door to new forms of tax avoidance. Thirteen tax law professors from around the country, in a 68-page study, blasted its ‘rushed and secretive process” that resulted, they said, ‘in deeply flawed legislation.’”

Official hired to craft bill says it made him “sick”:

Dana Trier, a former tax policy official for Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, was hired by the Trump administration to help write the bill. Instead, he said, he was “severely troubled” by the final version and told The Guardian that “known problems” were not corrected because it was rushed through.

“So, I mean I want to be honest with you, I was completely sick,” he said. “You know from my perspective I took one for the team and my reason for taking one for the team had not been fulfilled. I thought I could make it work. I could be one of those people who could help make it work. And in fact we didn’t reach my standard.”

 

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