The GOP Tax Plan Takes From Orphans, Gives to Trust-Fund Kids
Donald Trump promised that his tax cuts wouldn’t benefit the “the wealthy and well-connected,” but rather America’s “forgotten men and women.” This was always a transparent lie. But it was impossible to appreciate just how gaudily Orwellian the president’s “populism” was, until congressional Republicans unveiled their detailed tax plan Thursday morning.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doesn’t just redistribute trillions of dollars to corporate shareholders; or provide a windfall to wealthy business owners; or repeal the tax on estates worth more than $5.5 million dollars: It also allows the heirs of those estates to avoid paying any capital gains on their inherited assets — while ending a tax credit for adoption expenses, which was specifically designed to encourage adoption.
In other words, the law finances a giant gift to multimillionaire trust-fund kids, by (among other things) cutting subsidies that benefit orphans. Even by the modern GOP’s illustrious standards, this a stunningly ruthless act of class war.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/the-gop-tax-plan-hurts-orphans-helps-trust-fund-kids.html?utm_campaign=nym&utm_source=fb&utm_medium=s1
