Republican Tax Plan: Good For Wealthy, Bad For Everyone Else

The Republican tax plan would be great for the wealthy, who receive big tax cuts, but it would be bad for practically everyone else. See for yourself:

Republicans would hurt many middle-class earners.

Associated Press: “But the proposal’s conflicting provisions and phase-outs of certain benefits suggest that taxes could rise for some middle class earners over time. And for many, the income gains being touted by President Donald Trump are unlikely to materialize.”

Republicans would hurt families with medical costs.

Business Insider: “The Republican tax plan repeals an itemized deduction that applies to healthcare expenses. That's key for families with high medical costs, like those dealing with chronic conditions that require medical devices and other expensive equipment. Right now, those expenses can be deducted from their taxes, but under the Republican tax plan, they wouldn't be able to.”

Republicans would hurt homeowners.

Washington Post: “The legislation would cut in half the popular mortgage interest deduction used by millions of American homeowners, changing the deduction’s rules for new mortgages.”

National Association of Home Builders: “’You're talking about potentially causing housing recessions in some of the biggest markets in the country, and those kinds of recessions tend to have spillovers,’ Howard said. ‘We're worried about a national housing recession.’”

Republicans would hurt student loan borrowers.

          CNBC: “Student loan interest deduction is on the chopping block

CNBC: “Borrowers most likely to feel the full loss of the deduction would include recent graduates of either grad school or undergrad with ‘significantly above average’ student loan debt and income below the phase-out threshold, Kantrowitz said.”

Republicans would hurt poor families.

Vox: “Poor families were rumored to be getting a tax cut due to a change in the refundability formula for the child tax credit — but that didn’t make it into the bill. The credit only goes to families with $3,000 in earnings or more, and phases in slowly; some in Congress were pushing to lower the threshold to $0, but they didn’t succeed.”

Associated Press: “Some tax experts say the tax overhaul might also hurt those who aspire to be middle class. The bottom half of taxpayers now pay no net income tax, according to Treasury Department figures. Many receive refunds via the Earned Income Tax Credit. The plan unveiled Thursday would require eligible taxpayers to provide their Social Security Number to receive this benefit, thereby creating a possible delay in receiving a refund as the IRS enforces this provision.”

Republicans would hurt small-business owners.

Washington Post: “The National Federation of Independent Business, which represents 325,000 small businesses, said it would not support the GOP bill, because it ‘leaves too many small businesses behind.’ The original idea was to lower small businesses' taxes to 25 percent, but the language in the bill allows small-business owners to pay only 30 percent of their business income at the 25 percent rate.”