AP FACT CHECK: Trump on middle class and taxes
Posted Jan 30, 2018 09:31:14 PM.
Last Updated Jan 30, 2018 10:01:21 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WASHINGTON – A look at one of President Donald Trump’s statements from his prepared State of the Union address on Tuesday night and how it compares with the facts:
TRUMP: “Our massive tax cuts provide tremendous relief for the middle class and small businesses.”
THE FACTS: That depends on how you define “tremendous.” The biggest beneficiaries from the tax law are wealthy Americans and corporations.
Most Americans will pay less in taxes this year. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that about 80 per cent of U.S. households will get a tax cut, with about 15 per cent seeing little change and 5 per cent paying more.
Middle-class households — defined as those making between roughly $49,000 and $86,000 a year — will see their tax bills drop by about $930, the Tax Policy Center calculates. That will lift their after-tax incomes by 1.6 per cent.
The richest 1 per cent, meanwhile, will save $51,140, lifting their after-tax incomes by 3.4 per cent, or more than twice as much as the middle class.
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EDITOR’S NOTE _ A look at the veracity of claims by political figures
