Bruce Jenket: Rich get tax breaks because both parties want their donations

To The Daily Sun,

Lynn Rudman Chong’s letter, “Personal wealth keeps the blinders on Republican senators,” should have read, “Leftist propaganda keeps blinders on Democrats.

In her letter, she referenced an article in Forbes titled “Trump tax cuts help billionaires pay less taxes than the working class in 2018,” by Camilo Maldonado. Forbes is a reliable source so I read the article to see how the author arrived at that conclusion. I’m good at numbers so I was looking specifically for the data to back up a claim that I know is false. The article provided zero data but referenced a New York Times article that referenced this Bloomberg article (https://bloom.bg/3a8HQ8Z).

It was tedious but very good. Not much in specifics but went into detail on how the rich avoid paying taxes by “hiding” money in foreign bank accounts (why Paul Manafort is in jail) and tax loopholes. The other key tax breaks the rich get is the capital gains tax, which is only 15 percent or 20 percent, depending on income. So, if you make $1,000,000 by working you pay 37 percent ($370,000) but if a billionaire investor makes $1,000,000, they only pay 20 percent ($200,000). Huh, why is that? It’s because politicians from both parties are funded by the wealthy. The Trump tax cuts didn’t touch that benefit from prior years and I agree with Ms. Chong that it should be addressed.

Another benefit the rich get is they don’t pay SSI taxes above the $139,000 income cap. Again, not addressed in the Trump tax cut. So, what did the tax cuts address? The three key things were an increase in the standard deduction, a reduction in tax rates for all income levels and a limit on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. The first two helped 100 percent of taxpayers. The last only “hurt” the rich. They could no longer take billions in deductions.

If you read the Bloomberg article above it estimates that “the top 1 percent of the population controls 39 percent of the U.S. wealth and the bottom 90 percent only 26 percent”. That means the remaining 9 percent control 35 percent of the wealth. Who are those 9 percent? It’s the network news anchors, sports and entertainment figures, senators and representatives, governors and mayors of large states and cities, social media executives, etc. What’s the common thread? The majority do not support this president or the Republican tax cuts.

The Trump tax cuts did accomplish what it was intended to do, which was put over $100 billion back in the pockets of the bottom 80 percent (the forgotten man) and increased the tax burden on the top 20 percent by about $200 billion. How do I know? Because I can do the math and according to the IRS it collected $100 billion more in individual income tax in 2018 than 2017. The top 20 percent want their billions back and like Obamacare which added another $1 trillion in health care cost to mostly hard-working Americans, they are willing to lie to get it. Don’t fall for it.

Bruce Jenket

Moultonborough