Taxes

Poll: Voters Say the GOP Tax Bill Favors the Rich

Written by SK Ashby

According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, American say the congressional Republican tax bill favors the rich by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 and virtually no one believes it will help low-income people.

The Republican tax plan pending in the U.S. Congress benefits the wealthy the most, 64 percent of American voters say, while 24 percent say the tax plan benefits the middle class and 5 percent say it benefits low-income people, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. [...]

In a separate question, voters say 61 - 34 percent that the tax plan favors the rich at the expense of the middle class.

The plan will increase their taxes, 41 percent of voters say, while 20 percent say the plan will reduce their taxes and 32 percent say the plan will not have much impact on their taxes.

In the wake of the Republican tax plan, American voters say 47 - 39 percent that the Democratic Party can do a better job handling taxes. Voters have been divided on this question in the past.

Republicans believe they must pass tax cuts for the rich to win the next election, but I just don't see it that way. I believe passing the bill will dim their political prospects, but I can't encourage them to pass it because it could also cause irreparable harm to the country before Democrats have a chance to reverse it.

Quinnipiac is hardly the only poll displaying similar results and it's clear that no one believes in trickle-down economics anymore. That is to say no one who really needs to be trickled-down on believes it will actually happen as evidenced by just 5 percent of voters saying it will benefit low-income people.

What has been remarkable about this entire process has been the very public admission by CEOs and corporations that they will not be hiring more workers or boosting wages. They've been very honest by saying they will buy back their own stocks and pay dividends to shareholders.

There's a profound sense that not even the people who still use the words "trickle-down" to justify the policy actually believe in it. This was abundantly clear when Trump's top economic adviser Gary Cohn literally smiled and laughed out loud when he asked a room full of CEOs to raise their hands if they plan to invest. Almost none of them raised their hands.