Taxes

JCT: Senate Republican Tax Cut Bill Raises Taxes on 13.8 Million in 2019

Written by SK Ashby

The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) has released its analysis of the Senate Republican tax cut bill and, according to the committee, at least 13.8 million households will see their taxes go up during the very first year of implementation.

Moreover, that number would balloon to over 21 million over the following six years.

From the Associated Press:

Congressional analysts are estimating that the Republican Senate tax bill would increase taxes in 2019 for some 13.8 million U.S. households earning less than $200,000 a year. [...]

The analysis of the Senate plan says 13.8 million households, or about 10 percent of all taxpayers, would face a tax increase of $100 to $500 in 2019. There also would be increases greater than $500 for a number of taxpayers, especially those with incomes between $75,000 and $200,000. By 2025, 21.4 million households would have tax increases.

In other words, those whose consumer spending habits actually move the economy will see the highest tax increases.

These are not tax hikes on the rich. Someone who makes $200,000 may seem rich compared to someone making less than 50, but it's all relative. People who make between $75,000 and $200,000 will face the highest increase in taxes to pay for tax cuts for super-rich millionaires and billionaires who don't need tax cuts.

Taxes will go up on people making less than $200,000 so corporations can buy back more stocks and pay out more dividends to stock holders. And who are the biggest stock holders? That would be the executives and boards who control the corporations.

It's also important to keep in mind how these tax hikes will be distributed. They'll be distributed by cutting into deductions for homes, mortgages, education, and medical expenses, among other things. This will have compound effects on people working in associated industries who make even less money.

This is regressive taxation.