The Guardian: Trump’s tax plan: massive cuts for the 1% will usher ‘era of dynastic wealth’
media mention“‘Listening to Trump’s rhetoric, most Americans probably don’t realise at all the impact of Trump’s tax plan,’ Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) said. ‘Any way you slice it, the very best-off Americans will be the biggest beneficiaries.’
‘If it looks bad now for middle-income families, those who turned out to vote for him, it’s only likely to get worse [with Trump as president]. It is very likely that they will end up poorer still. The most likely victims are middle- and low-income families.’
Gardner said that under Trump, America will become even more divided between the rich and poor. ‘America is already very unequal, and his proposals would make income inequality a lot worse,’ Gardner said. ‘This is obviously quite worrisome. If he rode to victory on a middle-income wave of support, those middle Americans will be very disappointed.’
The inequality problem will be exacerbated by Trump’s plan to scrap inheritance tax – which he refers to as ‘the death tax.’ The 40% inheritance tax is currently only charged on personal estate worth more than $5.45m and joint estates of $10.9m – sums so large that it only affects less than two in 1,000 Americans.
Trump has proposed repealing the tax entirely. While Clinton, pushed by Bernie Sanders’ strong stance on the issue, had suggested lowering the threshold to $3.5m and increasing the rate to 65% for the super-wealthy.
‘It’s hard to think of a tax change that will have a more detrimental effect on inequality,’ Garnder said. ‘There is no question that this will lead to a perpetual income elite – hardly the thing that Trump voters would have wanted. This will lead to a new era of dynastic wealth.'”