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Fact Check: GOP Tax Reform Helped American Workers

Debunking Dems’ misleading and false claims about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
September 9, 2021 — Blog    — Facts Are Stubborn Things    — Press Releases    — Select Revenue Measures    — Work and Welfare   

Unable to defend the merits of their $3.5 trillion tax hikes and spending spree (especially given that a whopping 80 percent of Americans oppose tax hikes right now), Democrats are resorting to repeating the misleading and debunked claims about the historic 2017 tax cuts. Here are a few.

False Dem Claim: “[TCJA] contributed a great deal to inequality.”

Fact: Republican Tax Reform Helped All Americans.

  • According to analysis of CBO data by the Tax Foundation, Republican tax reform reduced federal tax rates for households across every income level–while increasing the share of taxes paid by the top 1 percent.
  • More than 6 million people were lifted out of poverty, dropping the poverty rate to 10.5 percent, the lowest level in U.S. history.
  • Income and wealth inequality fell after TCJA, as real wages for the bottom 10 percent grew nearly twice as fast as the top 10 percent and real wealth of the bottom 50 percent of households rose three times faster than that of the top 1 percent.
  • While pushing for tax hikes on Main Street businesses and working families, Democrats’ special tax break for the wealthy would widen income inequality.

False Dem Claim: “We tried trickle down before. We tried it with the Reagan tax cuts to the wealthiest. We tried with both Bush tax cuts. We tried it with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. What have we seen? Workers’ wages stagnate or digress.”

Fact: Workers’ Wages Increased Dramatically After Republican Tax Reform.

False Dem Claim: “Our tax package provides money to actual people. The Child Tax Credit [provides] $250 to $300 a month to the average person, to the 90 percent of the workforce that only earned .3 percent over 20 years when wages were stagnant […] Direct [tax credits] to them not to wealthy corporations.”

Fact: Republicans have a Record of Delivering Results for Working Families.

  • Republican tax reform helped strengthen families’ financial security and encouraged work by doubling the Child Tax Credit and securing the Family and Medical Leave Tax Credit.
  • Democrats have turned the Child Tax Credit into Welfare Without Work, which if they make permanent will harm families, risk the loss of billions of taxpayer dollars in waste and fraud, and cost American jobs.

Bottom Line: Instead of trotting out their tired talking points in their attempt to ram through a $3.5 trillion socialist agenda, Democrats should work with Republicans to get American back to our pre-pandemic economic strength.