December 20,2018

Wyden: “Only People Celebrating Trump Tax Law Birthday are Fortunate Few”

New Senate Finance Committee report looks back on a year of broken promises for workers and massive tax cuts for foreign shareholders, corporations

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today released a Senate Finance Committee Democratic Staff report detailing threats to America’s safety net, broken middle-class promises and record-breaking windfalls for the wealthy as consequences of Trump’s tax law. Republicans muscled their deficit-exploding corporate handout through Congress on a strict party line basis one year ago today. Trump signed that bill into law two days later.

“It’s Trump tax law’s first birthday, but the only people celebrating are the fortunate few, and middle-class families never got an invite to the party,” Wyden said. “For almost 365 days the American people have witnessed a heavier burden falling on working families, wealthy tax cheats getting away with gaming the system and one trillion dollars’ worth of stock buybacks that padded the portfolios of CEOs and foreign shareholders.”

The report outlines Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell’s calls to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid after their $1.9 trillion tax bill passed, and explains how Trump weakened estate tax laws that he and his family reportedly spent decades evading. It also revisits the loopholes and provisions in Trump’s tax law that send jobs overseas, harm the middle class and benefit high-fliers.

“This is just the beginning,” Wyden said. “Unless Congress acts to undo the damage, Trump’s tax law will continue to widen the inequality gap between hardworking Americans and the wealthy.”

A copy of the Senate Finance Committee Democratic Staff report can be found here.

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