* Trump has spent his term kowtowing to the wealthy establishment donors of the Republican Party and working for their special interest agenda rather than delivering for working families. Nowhere has that been more evident than the Republican tax scam signed into law two years ago last month.
* Instead of helping working families, Trump gave extreme tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and large corporations at the expense of working families. It was a giveaway to the ultra-rich and well-connected, and everyday Pennsylvanians continue to foot the bill.
* While Pennsylvanians work to pay their taxes and make ends meet, 60 of the nation’s largest corporations now pay absolutely nothing in taxes. The money saved isn’t going to [workers’ paychecks] either — some companies are using it to give big stock incentives to their executives and shareholders while they lay off workers.
TRIBUNE-REVIEW: NANCY PATTON MILLS: TRUMP’S BROKEN TAX PROMISES
By Nancy Patton Mills
January 4, 2020
In the crisp October of 2016, presidential candidate Donald J. Trump gave a speech at the Eisenhower Complex in Gettysburg. He fired up the crowd with promises to remember the “forgotten man and woman” of our country, to bring jobs to struggling communities and deliver a tax plan where “the largest tax reductions are for the middle class.” A little more than two weeks later, he won the state of Pennsylvania and was elected president of the United States.
Three years later, those promises have been broken. Trump has spent his term kowtowing to the wealthy establishment donors of the Republican Party and working for their special interest agenda rather than delivering for working families. Nowhere has that been more evident than the Republican tax scam signed into law two years ago last month.
There was much bluster about how Trump’s plan would help middle-class families and grow jobs — but that’s not what we’ve seen. Instead of helping working families, Trump gave extreme tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and large corporations at the expense of working families. It was a giveaway to the ultra-rich and well-connected, and everyday Pennsylvanians continue to foot the bill.
Here are the real results of the GOP tax scam:
• The richest 400 families in the country pay less than the bottom half of all working households for the first time in a century.
• While Pennsylvanians work to pay their taxes and make ends meet, 60 of the nation’s largest corporations now pay absolutely nothing in taxes. The money saved isn’t going to your paycheck either — some companies are using it to give big stock incentives to their executives and shareholders while they lay off workers.
• The bill created loopholes that reward corporations for moving their operations and assets overseas — so Trump made it easier, not harder, for companies to outsource Pennsylvania jobs.
• And over 375,000 Pennsylvania families paid more in taxes last year due to this scam.
Republicans in Washington also promised that their scam would pay for itself, but GOP leaders are now acknowledging that they may have been wrong. Over the summer Republican Rep. Kevin Brady, who played a key role in creating the tax bill, said openly that it’s “hard to know” if any portions of the bill were fully paid for. That’s because corporations are not actually paying their fair share. Even though Trump lowered the corporate tax rate to 21%, corporations have taken advantage of loopholes to pay an effective tax rate of 11.3% — the lowest rate in three decades.
The tax scam was never intended to help working families. It was always intended to help Trump and Washington Republicans’ richest donors as part of their special interest agenda. Why else would they now go after earned benefits and vital protections that families depend on, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid? Trump already cut a year of solvency from the Medicare trust fund, and just this year, he proposed $845 billion in cuts to Medicare and $241 billion in cuts to Medicaid.
This is not what Trump promised the families of Pennsylvania or the country when he took office. He isn’t working for the “forgotten man and woman.”
But Democrats have never forgotten. Our party has always stood up for working families, for making health care more affordable, and for fair tax systems that put the middle class before the wealthiest Americans. We invite you to join our work at every level of government to undo the damage Trump has caused to our commonwealth.
Read the piece here.
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