Trump Has Failed Latino Communities
March 4, 2020
When Trump speaks at the Latino Coalition Legislative Summit today, he won’t be able to defend his failure to deliver for Latino families.
Trump’s tax law disproportionately failed to benefit Latinos.
New York Times: “As a result, the average tax cut going to a white American household is more than double one going to a black or Latino one.”
Center for Public Integrity: “Some of the biggest tax cuts in 2025 are for those earning more than $75,000, with rate reductions between 0.6 percent and 1.5 percent of income, according to JCT. About 44 percent of white Americans earn this amount compared with 24 percent of blacks and 30 percent of Hispanics, according to the Center’s analysis.”
Latinos represent 18 percent of the U.S. population, but Latino households received only about seven percent of Trump’s tax cuts.
Census Bureau: “Hispanics constituted 18.1 percent of the nation’s total population.”
New York Times: “Latinos got about 7 percent, although their share of all income is 8 percent. In total, the analysis estimates, whites will get $218 billion in tax cuts this year as a result of the law. Black and Latino Americans will get about $32 billion combined.”
Instead of boosting their incomes, wage growth and job creation have slowed for Latinos under Trump.
St. Louis Fed: Real weekly wages for Hispanic Americans increased by over 9% under Obama from the end of the recession, but have risen less than 4% under Trump.
BLS: After declining more than 7% under Obama, the Hispanic unemployment rate has only declined by 1.5% under Trump.
Trump’s decision to rescind DACA and eliminate protections for TPS recipients could devastate the Latino communities and the entire U.S. economy.
Center For American Progress: “Using data from two Center for American Progress publications—a report that estimates the gross domestic product (GDP) declines that would accompany removing all unauthorized workers from the country and a survey that estimates the share of DACA recipients who are employed—CAP estimates that ending DACA would result in a loss of $460.3 billion from the national GDP over the next decade. Ending DACA would remove an estimated 685,000 workers from the nation’s economy.”
New American Economy: “In 2017, the 318,000 TPS recipients in the country earned almost $7.3 billion in total income. Their labor force participation rates were also particularly high, topping 94.1 percent… Meanwhile, although a relatively small population, TPS holders still paid an impressive $891 million into federal tax coffers.”
New American Economy: “In 2017 alone, TPS holders and the DACA-eligible together contributed more than $5.5 billion in taxes, including almost $2.5 billion to state and local governments.”