The Republican National Committee took Tax Day as an opportunity to boast about the GOP tax law’s benefits to “hardworking Americans” on Monday, but critics on Twitter weren’t having it.
The GOP tweet didn’t mention that corporations — who saw their tax rate slashed from 35 to 21% — and the top richest 1% of the population are the law’s biggest beneficiaries. The tax law also contributed to the country’s $22 trillion debt, which is $2 trillion higher than when Trump took office and the largest in U.S. history.
The law is turning into a political headache for the Republican Party even as Trump traveled to Minnesota on Monday to whip up enthusiasm for what he called “historic tax relief.” Only 18 percent of Americans believe they paid less in taxes the first year of Trump’s law, according to a poll by The Hill released Monday.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center predicted last year that about 65 percent of Americans would benefit from the tax law, with an average cut of $1,260. Yet it predicted that only 27 percent of individuals in the lowest income quintile would get any benefit.
For many, tax savings this year are so modest that they’re barely noticeable. Former GOP House Majority Leader Paul Ryan bragged last year about a school secretary whose paycheck was up $1.50 a week thanks to the tax law.
The benefits are also uneven. Many homeowners in high-tax states with expensive property owe more taxes than ever because real estate tax deductions are now capped at $10,000.
Many people responded to the GOP Tax Day tweet by saying they’d written their first-ever checks to the IRS. Others slammed the inequity of the law’s benefits.