NPR

Who Will Benefit Most From GOP Tax Plan? Early Report Suggests The Wealthy

Republicans in the White House and Congress have billed their tax proposal as a boost for the middle class. But a nonpartisan analysis finds the richest Americans would see the most immediate gains.
Analysts at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center predict that nearly three-quarters of the savings from the GOP tax overhaul would go to the top 20 percent of earners.

President Trump and congressional Republicans have pitched their tax plan as a boost for the middle class.

"The rich will not be gaining at all with this plan," Trump told reporters during a meeting with lawmakers in mid-September.

But analysts at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center who studied the proposal reached a very different conclusion. They predict that nearly three-quarters of the savings from the tax overhaul would go to the top 20 percent of earners — those making more than $149,000. More than half the savings would go the top 1 percent — people who earn more than $732,800. The tax breaks are even more tilted to the wealthy by the 10th year of the overhaul, when the Tax Policy Center projects nearly 80 percent of the savings would go to the top 1 percent of earners.

Administration officials have tried to discredit the center's analysis, noting the tax plan is so far just a framework with many of the details still to be filled in by Congress.

"All I can tell you is that no one can make real detailed.

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