The Hill: The most surprising winners from Trump’s ‘America First’ tax plan are not American

Following is an excerpt from an op-ed by ITEP Senior Fellow Matthew Gardner:

When President Trump announced in his inauguration speech that he would pursue a policy of “America First,” some people probably liked it while others feared it sounded too isolationist or perhaps even xenophobic. But even his most ardent supporters might be taken aback to hear that the president seems to have forgotten his “America First” pledge in designing his tax plan.

It’s now widely understood that despite the president’s repeated claims, his tax plan is not even remotely targeted toward the middle class. Analyses by my organization, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, and others agree that the best-off Americans would receive tax cuts far outstripping the meager shares going to Americans in the middle of the income distribution. The top 1 percent alone would see a breathtaking $85 billion tax cut in 2019 under the plan Trump is expected to sign this week. The rest of the top 20 percent would enjoy $140 billion in cuts. Read more

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