Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)

Both Trump plans are schemes to transfer enormous amounts of wealth from ordinary Americans to business and high-net-worth households.

That’s what they’re all about. His health plan has nothing to do with providing affordable coverage for all Americans - just the opposite, nothing to curb spiraling out-of-control costs, nothing providing “great healthcare…in a much simplified form…much less expensive and much better,” as he promised. On July 12, the Tax Policy Center (TPC) headlined “A Tax Plan Consistent With Trump’s April Outline Could Cut Revenue By Up To $7.8 Trillion.”

Including tax increases candidate Trump suggested, $3.5 trillion over 10 years would be lost. Tax cuts he proposes are “highly regressive,” said the TPC.

Business and high-net-worth households would benefit hugely. One in five household would pay higher taxes than currently - “if a half-dozen tax hikes are included in a revenue package.”

Since many details of his plan are unknown, TPC can’t “model” precisely what it’ll look like. It’s unclear if he wants a tax plan to raise as much revenue as under current law, or whether he prefers an overall reduction, hugely adding to the massive deficit.

TPC created what it called “a stylized version of what the key elements of a Trump plan might look like,” along with a half-dozen possible “revenue-raisers.”

Without revenue increases, $7.8 trillion in federal revenues would be lost over the next decade, $13.1 trillion over the following ten years.

With tax increases, $3.5 trillion federal revenues will be lost over the next decade, $5.7 trillion during the next 10 years.

Either way, the plan is hugely regressive. Without revenue-raisers, America’s top 1%, earning over $732,000, would get an average whopping $270,000 tax cut.

The top 0.1% will benefit on average by an obscene $1.4 million. America’s bottom 20% will pay $130 more. Middle-income households will gain about $1,900 in after-tax income.

If revenue-raisers are included, the above figures will shrink proportionately, the overall pattern remaining the same.

TPC: “While we don’t know what tax plan the president will propose in the coming months, it would have to look very different from what we’ve seen so far to avoid adding trillions of dollars to the debt and heavily skewing its benefits to the highest-income households.”

Trump’s healthcare and tax cut plans go together, federal expenditures saved by gutting Medicaid and other parts of the current law would go toward providing tax cuts for business and the rich.

Ordinary Americans will lose out so privileged ones can benefit - proper healthcare for everyone, fairness, and boosting economic growth entirely absent from his schemes.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

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