Surprise! Donald Trump’s Tax Plan Helps Donald Trump

Curtis Means/ZUMA

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Back in September, Donald Trump put forth a tax plan that pledged to help middle-class Americans and take aim at the “hedge fund guys.” That four-page proposal was criticized for being vague on the details. It also raised eyebrows with its promise to be revenue-neutral.

On Tuesday, an independent think tank weighed in and called bullshit on Trump’s populist guise.

The analysis, released by the Tax Policy Center, found that the Republican frontrunner’s proposal would largely benefit only the wealthiest Americans by giving the top 0.1 percent an average of $1.3 million a year in tax cuts. Middle class Americans would see their taxes reduced by just $2,700 annually.

The plan would also wipe out revenue by a staggering $9.5 trillion over the next decade, according to the TPC.

“The revenue losses from this plan are really enormous,” Len Burman, director of the TPC, said. “Basically it would negate all the economic benefits if we were running deficits anywhere near as large as we’re projecting here.”

This latest analysis proves, once again, Trump’s tax plan and his insistence that it would cost billionaires like him a “fortune” is, as our Kevin Drum noted, the Lie of the Year.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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