Washington, D.C. — As the tax reform debate heats up on Capitol Hill, the Center for American Progress today launched a new, user-friendly guide aimed at providing easy-to-understand information about the major issues surrounding the tax system in the United States—and cutting through conservative noise on tax cuts for the rich. In the upcoming tax debate, lobbyists and special-interest groups—many of which are backed by big business or the ultrawealthy—will undoubtedly continue to propagate false and misleading information about the U.S. tax system in order to build a case for tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations. CAP’s new series, titled “The Facts on Tax Reform,” counters this deceptive information and is intended to serve as a resource to the media, policymakers, and members of the public.
“Big businesses, special-interest groups, and the richest Americans have nearly unlimited resources to make a case for huge tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. As a result, they’re able to spread misleading information about the U.S. tax system—and the ability of tax cuts to create jobs and grow the economy,” said Alexandra Thornton, senior director of Tax Policy at CAP and co-author of the series. “CAP’s new series lays out the straight facts on taxes—for members of the media, lawmakers, and the American public.”
As CAP wrote earlier this year, a one-page tax plan released by the Trump administration outlined a plan that would enable the nation’s wealthiest taxpayers to receive an enormous tax windfall:
Despite its sparseness, the White House tax plan is perfectly clear in a number of areas, including proposing to reduce the corporate tax rate, creating a massive new loophole predominantly benefiting wealthy owners of pass-through business entities, and eliminating the estate tax, among other regressive proposals.
Similarly, House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) “Better Way” plan was heavily slanted toward people at the top of the income ladder. CAP’s series launches today with three fact sheets, which focus on how corporate tax cuts will not improve American competitiveness; how trickle-down tax cuts don’t create jobs; and how tax cuts for passthrough businesses, also known as the “Trump loophole,” won’t benefit actual small businesses. Additional fact sheets will be added in the coming weeks and months.
“The Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders have often relied on fuzzy math, confusing jargon, or outright falsehoolds to build support for cutting taxes for the richest Americans,” said Seth Hanlon, senior fellow at CAP and co-author of the series. “Americans need easy-to-understand information about our tax system—and they should know that massive tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations will come at the expense of middle-class and working families.”
Click here to read the series, “The Facts on Tax Reform,” by Alexandra Thornton and Seth Hanlon.
Click here to read “Giving Away Corporate Tax Cuts Is Not How to Make the United States More Competitive” by Alexandra Thornton and Seth Hanlon.
Click here to read “Trickle-Down Tax Cuts Don’t Create Jobs” by Seth Hanlon and Alexandra Thornton.
Click here to read “The ‘Trump Loophole’ Would Not Benefit Small Businesses” by Alexandra Thornton and Seth Hanlon.
For more information or to speak with an expert, contact Allison Preiss at [email protected] or 202.478.6331.