Appearing on Fox News on Friday morning, Trump Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was grilled by host Bill Hemmer on the fact that Trump’s tax plan would actually increase taxes for millions of Americans.
“You will admit now…that some Americans, under this Republican plan, will be paying more in taxes,” Hemmer said.
Mnuchin noted that some of the folks who would have increased tax bills come from states like New York, which has significant state and local taxes, since Trump’s plan would eliminate the state and local tax deduction.
But Mnuchin then said that there were “offsets” to these increases for New York, California, and elsewhere. He pointed to the massive cut in corporate taxes to 20 percent, which he touted as a “huge boom for the financial services industry.” Prior to joining the White House, Mnuchin worked on Wall Street, including 17 years for Goldman Sachs.
Mnuchin suggested that tax increases would be limited to “rich people in high tax states.” This is false.
An analysis released on Thursday by Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation found that the Senate version of Trump’s plan would, on average, increase taxes for everyone who makes less than $75,000 in 2027.
New estimates: Senate Republican tax plan would on average *raise* taxes on all income groups earning less than $75K by 2027, according to nonpartisan official estimators JCT. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ov0tUZC3TZ
— Lily Batchelder (@lilybatch) November 16, 2017
This is because while the corporate tax cuts touted by Mnuchin are permanent, most of the provisions that benefit middle and working class families expire after a few years. Even in the first year, the benefits of the plan overwhelmingly favor the rich.