Wyden: "Trump, Parade of Millionaires are Executing Middle-Class Con Job"

Trump Tax Scam Would Give Windfalls to the Wealthy At Expense of Hardworking Families

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today gave the following speech responding to false claims made by the president, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin about Trump’s tax plan. A link to Ranking Member Wyden’s speech can be found here.

“The plan outlined by the Trump administration would cost upward of $5 trillion, and it is overwhelmingly skewed toward the wealthy and biggest corporations.”

“Gary Cohn said on CBS News that the Trump plan is ‘purely aimed at middle-class families.’ But what the Trump team has established is a shell game. What they give with one hand, they take away from the other. They claim doubling the standard deduction is a winning proposition for the middle class, but it’s a step backward from multiple bipartisan proposals to triple the standard deduction. Furthermore, by eliminating the personal exemption, large middle-class families will see a tax increase under the tax plan, even with the larger standard deduction.”

“The Trump team also took a big pass on the opportunity to expand the child tax credit to make sure that more working families would benefit from them. There are no specifics about the child tax credit in this plan.”

“Secretary Mnuchin said on Fox Business that ‘this plan will cut down the deficit by a trillion dollars.’ He is doubling down on the failed experiment -- that tax cuts pay for themselves through economic growth. History shows this is simply not true. The 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts were billed as tax relief for the middle class that would spark economic growth. Instead, the benefits skewed to the fortunate few and added trillions to America’s debt.”

“What is the one question on which the Trump team doesn’t bend the truth? Whether their plan will protect the middle class from a tax hike. Today Gary Cohn said on ABC News that he couldn’t guarantee taxes would go up for the middle class. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin earlier this year said he couldn’t guarantee the middle class wouldn’t pay more under Trump’s tax plan. The president's ultra-wealthy, out-of-touch advisors clearly fail to understand the need to deliver tax relief to the millions of middle-class Americans who need it the most.”

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