Final Tax Analysis: Good for the Rich, Bad for the Middle Class

I know it’s totally unfair to point out what happens under the Republican tax bill in 2027 after the individual cuts expire. After all, Republicans say they don’t want them to expire, and we should all pay attention to what Republicans say rather than what they actually do. But I’m just an old dinosaur who thinks actions are more important than words. And regardless of what they may want in the secret recesses of their hearts, the bill they’re about to pass does this:

As the top chart shows, within a decade tax rates will go up for everyone making less than $55,000 and stay about the same up to $225,000. They’ll go down for everyone above that level, and they’ll go down the most for millionaires. This one is from the Tax Policy Center.

On the bottom, you can see how this affects households. Up to $75,000, households will pay several hundred dollars more each year in taxes. Those making over a million dollars per year will pay about $14,000 less. This is from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

But it doesn’t matter. These are the same numbers we’ve seen all along, and the fact that the middle class is getting screwed in service to tax cuts for the rich isn’t going to stop anyone. I sure hope Republicans pay a price for this almost unfathomable act of political cynicism.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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