Taxes are slashed on US corporations and the wealth of the super-rich, at the expense of working and middle class living standards and public services
Socialist, weekly newspaper of the Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales)
When Donald Trump is not retweeting racist videos, or reportedly obstructing justice over his former national security adviser’s lies, or threatening to start world war three, he’s doing what he does best – making a stack of cash for himself!
Republicans in the Senate have pushed through a hastily redrafted tax bill that will slash taxes on US corporations and the wealth of the super-rich – at the expense of working and middle class living standards and public services.
Trump’s tax plan, apart from adding an estimated $1.2 trillion to the federal deficit, will cut taxes mainly on big business and the wealthiest individuals by between $1.4 and $2.4 trillion. An estimated two-thirds of the tax cuts will go to the richest 1%.
US corporations claim that the current 35% federal tax rate makes them ‘uncompetitive’. But tax loopholes mean the real rate for these giant companies is around 22%.
Under Trump’s plan it will drop to just 20%. This is at a time when US corporate profits are at an historic high.
Further, according to DCReport.org, “the top tax rate on partnerships and limited liability companies [also known as pass-through entities] would fall from 39.6% to 25%. Trump has more than 500 such businesses.”
As Socialist Alternative (US co-thinkers of the Socialist Party) says: “We need to fight for a socialist society in which the top banks and corporations are taken into public ownership under direct democratic control of workers, consumers and broader public.
“Only then can we guarantee that these massive profits currently shielded from the treasuries of capitalist governments, are used for full public investment in jobs and social services.”
