Trump’s Tax Cut Is a House of Lies

Business as usual for this administration.

In rolling out their tax proposal, the White House and its allies have opted again for outright lies.

Let’s first consider the major details of the Republican tax plan. Under its framework, the seven current individual tax brackets would be consolidated to just three: 12 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent. The standard deduction would double for both couples and individuals, and the child tax credit would both grow and include more high-income households. Republicans would slash the corporate tax rate would from 35 percent to 20 percent, cut taxes on “pass-through” companies, repeal the alternative minimum tax (which applies to certain upper-income households) and end the estate and gift tax, which is paid primarily by the most wealthy.

Selling it on ABC’s Good Morning America, Gary Cohn, director of the White House Economic Council, said, “The wealthy are not getting a tax cut under our plan.” In a separate interview on Fox News, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin promised that “this tax plan will cut down the deficits by a trillion dollars,” while President Trump insisted in a press conference that he would not gain from these provisions. “My plan is for the working people,” he said. “I don’t benefit.”

None of this is true.

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