Republican tax cut bill to help richest Americans

WASHINGTON – Tax cut bills introduced by House Republicans will benefit wealthy Americans at the expense of the poor.

Experts who analyzed the bill said it would bring more than $28 billion to the richest 1% of Americans next year.

By contrast, the poorest fifth of the country would receive only $1.4 billion.

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), the poorest fifth of Americans would receive an average tax break of just $40 next year.

In contrast, the top 1% of the income distribution would receive an average tax cut of $16,550 under the legislation.

Republicans have introduced three bills, one of which is titled the “Tax Cuts for Working Families Act.”

The wealthiest 20% of Americans would receive a total of $60.8 billion in tax cuts.

The three measures would also reward foreign investors with $23.8 billion by cutting corporate taxes.

Steve Wamhoff, ITEP director of federal policy, said the legislative package represents a bad deal for ordinary Americans.

The Republican legislation is expected to increase the deficit by extending Trump’s tax cuts for corporations and other businesses.

In a statement summarizing key provisions of the tax bills, House Speaker Jason Smith said the savings would come from repealing clean energy tax credits.

Wamhoff said the cost of eliminating those tax credits “would ultimately be borne by everyone in the form of greater climate damages”

The bills, which House Republicans outlined late last week, came shortly after the House Republicans used a looming debt default as leverage to impose new caps on federal spending and add more harsh work requirements to federal safety net programs, including nutrition assistance—potentially stripping food aid from hundreds of thousands of older adults.