Vanity Fair: Tax Bill Would Help a Very Specific, Very Orange Type of Rich Rerson

On Monday, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released its preliminary findings of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and if you’re an elected official trying to sell this thing as great for the little guy, the findings aren’t likely to help. According to the report’s authors, almost one-third of the tax plan’s benefits would go to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans in 2018—by 2027, 1-percenters would enjoy almost half of said benefits. Meanwhile the middle class would receive 10 percent of the benefits in 2018 and a mere 8 percent in 2027, owing in part to the fact that some measures in the bill that help the middle class—lower tax rates, a $300 tax credit for each adult in a household, an increased standard deduction—will either expire or be reduced over time (while things like the estate tax get better as time goes on). Read more