In response to MAGA Republicans’ attempts to resurrect their failed agenda that left Black Americans behind, DNC Senior Spokesperson Marcus W. Robinson released the following statement: 

“President Biden and Vice President Harris continue to break systemic barriers and expand economic opportunities for Black communities. Under this administration, we’ve seen Black small business ownership grow at the fastest pace in over 30 years, we’ve achieved historically low Black unemployment rates, and millions of Black children were lifted out of poverty in 2021 thanks to the American Rescue Plan. If Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans get their way, they will rewind the clock on this progress and push harmful economic policies that only work for the wealthy and well-connected – cutting taxes for the ultra-rich and mega-corporations at the expense of hardworking Black Americans.”

Republican lawmakers are ready to leave working-class Black Americans behind by pushing an extension of the Trump tax cuts if they win in November — a move that would line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy and increase the national debt by the trillions…

The Hill: “Republicans prepare to fast-track tax cuts in reconciliation”

“Republicans are getting ready to fast-track the extension of the Trump tax cuts through the reconciliation process if they win big in November. Nearly seven years after the GOP used budget reconciliation to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the party is gearing up to use the same maneuver to renew key provisions set to expire in 2026. While most legislation needs the support of 60 senators to avert a filibuster, budget reconciliation allows lawmakers to pass major tax and spending bills with a simple majority — and without bipartisan backing…

“While changes in business and corporate taxes from the 2017 tax law changed investment flows within the economy, it did not add substantially to economic growth. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated gross domestic product (GDP) expansion due to the law of 0.3 percent in 2018 and 0.6 percent in 2019 before the economic policies of the pandemic made its continued effects too difficult to measure accurately.

“The law also did not affect compensation levels for regular people, with the Congressional Research Service concluding that ‘ordinary workers had very little growth in wage rates’ resulting from the law.”

Center for American Progress: “According to new estimates released today by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), permanently extending the expiring provisions of the Trump tax cuts would cost $4 trillion over the next 10 years, $400 billion per year.* This includes $3.4 trillion from extending the expiring individual and estate tax provisions as well as $551 billion from extending business provisions… 

“An extension would provide, on average, a larger tax cut for extremely rich households than for everyone else. Households with incomes of more than $500,000 per year—roughly the top 2 percent of households by income—would receive a larger tax cut than households making $200,000 per year, not just in dollars terms but also as a percentage of their after-tax income. And the households making $200,000 per year would receive a larger tax cut than those making $50,000 or less per year.”

…and as if that wasn’t bad enough, MAGA Mike Johnson is preparing an extreme “mega-bill” that could threaten millions of Black Americans’ access to affordable health care.

Semafor: “Speaker Mike Johnson promises a Republican mega-bill that would define Donald Trump’s second term”

“Speaker Mike Johnson is preparing Republicans for quick, large-scale action if they win unified control of government in November, telling Semafor he’ll pursue a far-reaching bill aimed at addressing a wide range of issues at once. Johnson said he’s been in frequent communication with Donald Trump, discussing the potential for a legacy-defining legislative package early in his presidency. […]

“‘We did one round of health care reform, one round of tax reform. But we’re looking at for [fiscal year 2025], we want to have a much larger scope, multiple issues to address in addition to the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.’ […]

“As for the Affordable Care Act, a sensitive issue Trump has talked about revisiting after failing to repeal and replace the law in 2017, Johnson said ‘I don’t think there’s any coordinated effort on that yet,’ but added there’s ‘a lot of innovation and change that is desperately needed’ in the healthcare system.’”

Working-class Black households were disproportionately left behind by Trump’s tax giveaways for the ultra-wealthy.

New York Times: “The Tax Break for Children, Except the Ones Who Need It Most”

“While Republicans say the increase shows concern for ordinary families, 35 percent of children fail to receive the full $2,000 because their parents earn too little, researchers at Columbia University found. A quarter get a partial sum and 10 percent get nothing. Among those excluded from the full credit are half of Latinos, 53 percent of [B]lacks and 70 percent of children with single mothers.

“By enriching the credit and including the affluent, the Trump expansion itself has brought attention to the poor children it excludes. While the 2017 law made millions of upper-income families eligible for the $2,000 credit (in part to offset the loss of other tax benefits), it gave a boost of just $75 to most full-time workers at the minimum wage.”

New York Times: “White Americans Gain the Most From Trump’s Tax Cuts, a Report Finds”

Instead of pushing an economic agenda that would help uplift Black families, Trump wants to double down on his extreme MAGA tax scam that would disproportionately help his ultra-rich friends while leaving the middle class behind. 

Trump: “I will never let the Trump tax cuts … I will never let them be taken away.”

Trump: “You’re all people that have a lot of money … You’re rich as hell …We’re gonna give you tax cuts.”

Trump: “We will replace Biden’s tax hikes with the beautiful Trump tax cuts. You know, we have to extend the tax cuts.”

Trump on whether his second term tax policies would echo those of his first term: “Yes, and I’d do even more taxes.”

Washington Post: “The former president’s closest economic advisers are plotting an aggressive new set of tax cuts to push on the campaign trail and from the Oval Office if he wins a second term. Trump and his advisers have discussed deeper cuts to both individual and corporate tax rates that would build on his controversial 2017 tax law. … Trump’s advisers, though, have discussed proposals to make deeper cuts to the overall corporate tax rate, potentially to as low as 15 percent, or to use the revenue from the proposed tariffs to pay a dividend to U.S. households. Further cutting corporate taxes … would primarily benefit large firms.”

Bloomberg: “[Trump] intends to center his economic plans on extending and deepening the Republican tax cuts from 2017.”

Vanity Fair: “Donald Trump Wants to Give His Favorite Corporations Another Giant Tax Cut in a Second Term: Report”

New York Times: “Republicans argue that this will benefit small businesses. In fact, a large majority of small-business owners already have personal tax rates below 25 percent. This provision would aid a small group of developers, investors and other tycoons who work in professions or industries where it is relatively easy to set up pass-through businesses. Like, yes, Mr. Trump and his family, who make their money from one such industry: real estate.”

Economic Policy Institute: “The TCJA overwhelmingly benefited the rich and corporations while overlooking working families”

Vox: “Trump said this tax break was for small businesses. It’s giving $17 billion to millionaires this year”

“If many average Americans aren’t noticing or loving the tax cut bill yet, it might be understandable — it benefits the wealthy by design. And a congressional report released this week shows that one specific new deduction for so-called ‘pass-through’ companies is heavily benefiting the rich. … The Republican tax bill cut the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent and disproportionately benefits corporations and the wealthy.”

Thanks to President Biden’s economic agenda, Black communities and small businesses are growing and thriving.

White House Fact Sheet: “The Biden-Harris Administration has:

• Powered a historic economic recovery that created 2.6 million jobs for Black workers—and achieved both the lowest Black unemployment rate on record and the lowest gap between Black and White unemployment on record.
  
  
• Helped Black working families build wealth. Black wealth is up by 60% relative to pre-pandemic—the largest increase on record.
  
  
• Cut in half the number of Black children living in poverty in 2021 through ARP’s Child Tax Credit expansion. This expansion provided breathing room to the families of over 9 million Black children.
  
  
• Began reversing decades of infrastructure disinvestment, including with $4 billion to reconnect communities that were previously cut off from economic opportunities by building needed transportation infrastructure in underserved communities, including Black communities.

White House Fact Sheet: “President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has driven historic gains in small business creation and entrepreneurship.  Since taking office, Americans have filed a record 15 million applications to start new businesses. Black business ownership is growing at the fastest pace in 30 years, and the share of Black households owning a business has doubled between 2019 and 2022, after falling between 2007 and 2019.

“President Biden’s Small Business Administration delivered $50 billion to small businesses in Fiscal Year 2023, with major increases in support for underserved businesses, including Black-owned businesses.  Since 2020, the share of the SBA’s loan portfolio going to minority-owned businesses has increased from 23% to over 32%. The number and dollar value of SBA-backed loans to Black-owned businesses has more than doubled since 2020.”

PolitiFact: “According to a Brookings Institution analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey, the number of Black-owned businesses with more than one employee has increased every year since 2017. The biggest increase came between 2020 and 2021, when the number rose from about 140,000 to a little over 161,000.

“The growth from 2020 to 2021 represented the largest percentage increase — 14.3% — of any year since 2017. […]

“Black-owned businesses also grew faster in several categories than businesses owned by whites, Asian Americans, Latinos or Hispanics, and Native Americans did. Black-owned businesses had a 7% increase in employees, a 30% increase in revenue, and a 27% increase in payroll in 2021, the analysis by Brookings, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, showed.”