A Scheme of the Super-Rich, by the
Super-Rich, for the Super-Rich
By David Cay Johnston, DCReport
Editor-in-Chief
Donald Trump says his tax plan is “a revolutionary change, and
the biggest winners will be the everyday American workers as jobs start pouring
into our country, as companies start competing for American labor and as wages
start going up at levels that you haven’t seen in many years.”
No, it’s not.
It’s just another con job from the most successful con artist in
history.
Below are nine examples of how this is a plan of the super-rich,
by the super-rich and for the super-rich. And unless you are super-rich, this
plan will badly hurt you.
You’ll
pay high tax rates. The 10% and 15% tax rates, paid by most Americans, will be
replaced with higher rates—12% and 25% rates. This helps the poor and middle
class how? Your marginal tax rate would rise by either 20% or 67%.
Trump
Will Pay Less Tax. The top tax rate on partnerships and limited liability companies
would fall from 39.6% to 25%. Trump has more than 500 such businesses. His tax
rate would fall by more than a third.
Corporations
Pay Less. The corporate tax rate would be cut from 35% to 20%. This at a
time when corporations have record amounts of cash and interest rates are super
low. The savings will make it easier to buy back stocks, which makes executive
stock options more valuable because fewer shares make each share more valuable.
Rewarding
Corporate Tax Dodging. Companies that used accounting to convert profits earned in
America into tax-deductible expenses paid to their offshore subsidiaries will
get a tax holiday, bringing the profits back with little or no tax. The taxes
avoided by moving money offshore are in effect loans from Uncle Sam at
zero-percent interest so this would be a double dip of corporate welfare.
Trump
Kids Win. Trump would repeal the estate tax so if he really is worth $0
billion—he’s not—he would save $4 billion. At even $100 million he would save
$40 million. While he claims his tax plan “is not good for me,” it will,
undoubtedly, be good for Donald Jr., Eric, Ivanka, Tiffany and Barron Trump.
Trump
Pays 85% Less. Had the tax plan been in effect in 2005 Trump would have paid a
tax rate of less than 3.5%, a rate lower than the poorest half of taxpayers.
That’s because he would repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax. Here is our
exclusive on his tax return from March.
More
Jobs Would Go Offshore. While only vaguely described, the
plan would encourage companies to move jobs offshore, the exact opposite of
what Trump administration said. Poor countries overseas will offer tax-free
profits or minimally taxed profits in return for jobs—jobs that will pay very
low salaries by American standards. American companies that offshore jobs to
these countries will get a twofer—cheap labor and no taxes.
Saving
Gentleman Ranchers. Each year about 2.6 million Americans die. Fewer than
5,000 of them pay any estate tax. Trump drags out the old lie that this is to
save the family farm. Only 80 of those 5,000 taxable estates include farm
property—and they are gentleman farmers like Ted Turner (pictured here) with
his herds of buffalo, not yeoman farmers working tractors in their corn and
soybean fields.
The
bottom line: This plan only makes sense if you believe, like Trump and many
Congressional Republicans, that America’s greatest economic problem is that the
rich do not have nearly enough. If you believe the rich just cannot afford to
invest in ways that create jobs and grow the economy this is the plan for you.
