Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has proposed a wide variety of tax policy changes. Taken together, these proposals would, on average, lead to a tax cut for the richest 5 percent of Americans and a tax increase for all other income groups, an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has found.
If these proposals were in effect in 2026, the richest 1 percent would receive an average tax cut of about $36,300 and the next richest 4 percent would receive an average tax cut of about $7,200. All other groups would see a tax increase with the hike on the middle 20 percent at about $1,500 and the increase on the lowest-income 20 percent of Americans at about $800.
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Trump has offered several tax proposals, which are all included in these estimates:
- Extending the temporary provisions in Trump’s 2017 tax law that will otherwise expire at the end of 2025, except for the $10,000 cap on State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions, which Trump says he would not extend
- Exempting certain types of income from taxes (overtime pay, tips, and Social Security benefits)
- Reducing the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 20 percent and then further reducing it to 15 percent for “companies that make their product in America”
- Repealing tax credits enacted as part of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that provide incentives for the production and use of green energy
- Imposing a new 20 percent tariff on imported goods, with a higher rate of 60 percent for goods from China
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Measured as a share of income, the tax increases faced by most Americans would fall hardest on working-class families. […] The middle 20 percent of Americans would face a tax increase equal to 2.1 percent of their income, while the poorest 20 percent of Americans would face a tax increase equal to 4.8 percent of their income – all while the top 5 percent get a tax cut.
Time for Dems to run with something like, “Trump will increase your taxes.” Don’t even mention rich people to avoid the weirdos who think they’ll be billionaires in 5 years or whatever.
Trump wants to get the American public to fund not only his lifestyle, but that of his family for the next several generations. Don’t forget, this is the president who literally monetized the presidency, from selling the Resolute Desk to Goya for ad space, shopping federal pardons to celebrities, and making government officials (and their entourages) travel hundreds of miles off course to stay at his businesses so he could price gouge the American taxpayer.
