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Donald Trump wants to cut taxes on the rich. He wants to use the money that is supposed to help the lower class purchase healthcare. The house and the Senate have each come up with their own plans. The house wants to keep the same tax rate at 39.6%, but it would only be applied for married couples who make over $1,000,000 in income. As of right now the base income is at $470,000. This would help the upper class significantly. The senate wants to lower the tax rate to 38.5% and have the same $1,000,000 base income. Overall, both of these plans would help the upper middle class, and the upper class. “In general, rich households already do well in analyses of the current tax plans thanks to provisions like ending the alternative minimum tax, reducing or repealing the estate tax, and cutting taxes for pass-through entities, all of which could potentially benefit Trump himself.”
Discussion Questions:
- Overall, this plan would help middle class Americans, but it still favors the rich. Is this right?
- Is there a better plan?
9 comments:
I think that there is this pattern in United States policy that always favors the wealthy more. So this plan is really not unexpected. In regards to if this is "right," the term itself is very subjective. In terms of equality, it is not right, but when is anything ever equal nowadays?
I completely agree with Elena that the bill still favors the rich. The whole point of cutting taxes is so that individuals/families can save a portion for themselves. I'm not sure of whether or not cutting the taxes is a good thing because the country needs taxes to operate. "The government" is not some entity that we want to deny tax money. Tax money pays for public services, like roads, fire departments, police, schools. Bad for the government is bad for the country. Furthermore, reducing the number of tax brackets is a very bad idea.
I agree with the comments above because this is expected. This plan only benefits the upper middle class, and the rich, and even if there was a better plan, Trump would most likely not want to obtain it.
To have an honest discussion, you have to understand republican ideology.
I'm not sure why, but it seems as if people here think that republicans want to screw the poor and help the rich, as if their intentions are evil, where in reality they think that cutting taxes for all people is good for the economy because they believe that the private sector creates far more wealth than the government does. Sure, cutting a 7 figure salary by 5% is a lot more than cutting a 6 figure, but the idea is that the more money pumped in the economy, the better.
If your goal is to change the minds of the right, simply saying that all they're doing is helping the rich isn't going to work. Instead, you need to have a more economic debate.
The article itself mentions that cutting the individual mandate in ACA isn't even enough for the tax rate to be reduced in the rich. You can say that cutting taxes for the rich pumps more money into the economy, but this is quite clearly an example of trickle-down economics that, well, we all know how that turns out.
I think that the people in the lower class who are being slighted by this move and will see their healthcare premiums rise due to this tax cut are many of the core supporters of Trump. At this point, if they can't see that they're clearly not benefiting from this type of legislation being pushed into place, I don't really know what to say. Robert makes a good point that you have to convince the right why this type of legislation doesn't work, but I think the results can speak for itself.
What is the ultimate goal of the rich? It is to make more money. How do they make more money? They provide goods and services that positively affect everyone else. The very wealthy aren't going to spend all their money on yachts and vacation homes, sure some of their money goes to those things but the main goal of the rich is to become more and more successful, and they will use their money in order to achieve that goal. Giving the rich more money will in the end benefit the economy because more money will be used to invest and grow companies. But the rich have so much more wealth than the other 99%, it isn't fair. Well actually, it is. The reason the rich are rich isn't because they robbed a bunch of banks and ended up becoming billionaires. They got rich because of the goods and services they provided, and the goods and services that they provided were not stolen and then resold, they were created fairly and lawfully and have a tremendously positive impact on our economy and quality of life. Before scolding the rich and labeling them as greedy thieves, take a second to actually think about how much they do for our country.
This plan is being promoted as something that benefits the middle class, but the whole intent of tax reforms has been to lower taxes for corporations and to help the rich despite the growing income gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else. The rationale for lowering taxes on corporations is to create jobs, but what it will do is rob the US Treasury of tax dollars that are needed to build infrastructure, schools, and provide a safety net for Americans who are in need, whether it is for healthcare or for assistance after natural disasters like Harvey or Maria. The rich don't need more help. In fact, the richest Americans that the tax reforms would benefit have come out to say that they don't need a tax cut. They would rather pay to build better schools to educate a population that is ready to work in the global economy that will allow America to maintain its status as the best economy in the world. Yes, the reforms are benefiting the rich, but many don't want it because it is unnecessary for them to save more money.
I've always been of the opinion that taxation is a necessary evil at best and outright theft at worst. Taxes are nothing more than a burden on private industry and private individuals seeking to make a living. However, of all the people who need tax cuts, I would not count wealthy individuals in that category-the middle class and the poor need tax cuts most of all. Keep in mind that not everyone is getting a tax cut with Trump's new reform plan-and that the one percent will enjoy tax savings that are disproportionately larger than everyone else. In addition, 6.8% of the poorest 20% will NOT get a tax cut, but rather will pay more taxes under the Trump tax plan, and that's outrageous. Don't get me wrong-this isn't about the rich paying a "fair share"-that's one of the more fallacious arguments of the left-but it's more about the fact that the tax burden is being shifted on people who will financially buckle under this tax burden. The rich deserve to keep their hard-earned wealth, don't get me wrong, but so does everyone else. The primary Republican and Libertarian argument against taxation and the complexities of any tax plan is that taxes hurt the poor and the middle class, who can't socially and financially progress with such a burden on them imposed by the government.
This issue about taxation is always hotly debated and the arguments for both sides are numerous and convincing. I am not an expert on this issue so I don't really have an opinion except that taxing people who can't pay them seems like a bad idea. Also, if taxing people sends them into an economic hardship then that would be the worst for the economy. Based on this reasoning, the rich should get the most taxes while the poor receive the least if any at all. This reasoning is what has influenced my opinion the most but until I can obtain a full education on the subject of Trickle Down Economics I don't have a strong opinion.
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