WASHINGTON, DC - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) and Tax Policy Subcommittee Ranking Member Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) today released the following statements after President Donald J. Trump released his tax proposal:
“President Trump’s tax proposal does not do nearly enough for working families and small businesses in this country," said Ranking Member Neal. “The tax cuts proposed by President Trump would disproportionately favor the wealthy and large corporations at the expense of our nation’s hardworking middle class. Despite what this Administration might say, the notion that large tax cuts pay for themselves is a fallacy. This broad outline - which lacks any kind of real detail - is a rerun of the same failed tax policy that led to the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, which cost us trillions of dollars, did nothing to help working families, and, in part, contributed to the Great Recession. I have long said that my desire is to use bipartisan tax reform as an opportunity to address our nation’s crumbling infrastructure and I’m disappointed the president’s plan does not seize this opportunity. Any tax reform plan should focus on growing our economy from the middle out, instead of trickle-down economics from the top down. The American people deserve better than President Trump’s proposals, and I hope the president and Republicans in Congress will come to the table with Democrats and work to reform our tax code in a bipartisan manner that kick starts growth and grows our nation’s middle class."
“The claim that his multi-trillion dollar tax cut will pay for itself is as incredible as the claim that Mexico will pay for his multi-billion dollar border wall," said Congressman Doggett. “Dripping in red ink, this proposal validates Trump’s boast that he is ‘the king of debt.’ For Trump and his cohorts, ‘fiscal responsibility’ is just a political slogan used to undermine the vital education, health care, and social services that they oppose, not a genuine commitment to restraining the national debt. Boasting of his previous influence in bending the Tax Code to his whim, Trump claims only he can fix it. But will he ‘fix’ it for himself, or fix it for the middle class? Without an end to the Republican cover-up of Trump’s tax returns, we cannot determine whether this is mostly just more self-enrichment for the Trump family. Trump talks like a populist but governs like a plutocrat. Like the near trillion dollar tax cut in the failed health care bill that he endorsed, Trump’s tax plan fills the coffers of giant corporations and lines the pockets of the superrich."
