Trump promised to "massively cut taxes for the middle class, the forgotten people, the forgotten men and women of this country, who built our country." During a town hall meeting on NBC's Today show, he said he believes in raising taxes on the wealthy. And at least half of Trump's supporters agreed with him on that, according to a pre-election survey by the RAND Corporation, a research group.
"Just before the election, after the last debate, 51 percent of them intending to vote for Trump supported increasing taxes on high-earning individuals," says Michael Pollard of RAND.
But Trump's plan does the opposite, says Lily Batchelder, a law professor at NYU and visiting fellow at the Tax Policy Center.
"If you look at the most wealthy, the top 1 percent would get about half the benefits of his tax cut, and a millionaire would get an average tax cut of $317,000," she says.
One other element of the Trump plan is worth noting: It would eliminate the federal estate tax entirely. Only the wealthiest taxpayers — less than 1 percent — now pay that tax. Ending it would lead to an even greater concentration of wealth in the U.S. |
