As Congressional Republicans begin the push for Trump’s tax cuts, including the vital extension of the previous tax cuts, Democrats are already repeating their favorite mantra: “No tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires!” To hear them tell it, no tax cut in history has ever benefited anyone other than the rich, which they define as “anyone who has a dollar more than I do.” That’s how they’ve mischaracterized the Trump tax cuts for years.
But Justin Haskins at Townhall.com has gathered the IRS data that proves what a dangerous lie that is. Dangerous because if people believe it and let them block an extension of those tax cuts, it will spark the biggest tax increase on lower- and middle-class wage earners in history.
We know that numbers are not a concept Democrats are comfortable with, but Haskins makes it clear and simple. Yes, the wealthy did retain more of their money, but that was only because they pay most of the taxes. However, as a percentage of income taxes, lower- and middle-income taxpayers did much better than the rich, with the steepest percentage tax reductions going to those who make $75,000 a year or less. Examples:
Just between 2018 and 2022, Americans earning $50k to $75k a year got to keep an average of $4,516 of their income that would have been taken by the IRS.
Between 2017 and 2002, those making $1.5 million to $2 million got a 4.1% tax cut. Those around the $500,000 level got less than a 10% cut. Those making $50,000 to $75,000 got a 16.5% cut. The $40,000 to $50,000 bracket got an 18.8% cut. And those earning $30,000 to $40,000 saw their taxes drop by a whopping 21.4%.
Reverse those numbers and you’ll see how big a tax hike Americans will face if the Trump tax cuts aren’t renewed. Yet Democrats who are falsely blaming Trump for high egg prices and spreading panic over possible tariff inflation are fighting to, in effect, stick low-income earners with a 21.4% tax hike.
If that’s their position, we can see why they want eggs to be too expensive to throw at them.
