Bruce Jenket: Taxes under President Trump actually went up for the rich

To The Daily Sun,

Not a single Democrat in Congress voted for the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) promised by President Donald Trump. That includes our state Reps. Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Chris Pappas and Maggie Goodlander. Shame on them all. 

The Trump “Tax Cuts & Jobs Act” (TC&JA) in 2018 was the largest tax cut in U.S. history for those making under $100,000 per year. It would have ended this year had Republicans not passed the BBB. Contrary to what Democrats, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc., have been reporting for the last seven years, those making over $100K/year have been paying more following that legislation. If readers don’t believe me do the math.

Here are the IRS income tax summaries for 2017: tinyurl.com/2p8x6v9x (the year before TC&JA), and 2022: tinyurl.com/54u5mdmp, the latest year of data on the IRS website. It tells readers all they need to know. In 2017 those making under $100K paid a total of $299B, and in 2022 they paid $277B. That is a decrease of 7.4%. By comparison, in 2017, those making over $500K/year paid $604B, and in 2022 they paid $946B for an increase of 56.5%. For completeness, those making between $100K and $500K/year paid $678B in 2017, and $876B in 2022 for an increase of 29.2%.

Here is my question. If taxes went down for the 81% of taxpayers that made under $100K/year, and went up for the 19% of taxpayers that made over $100K/year, why have Democrats and their complicit media been claiming that the TC&JA was a tax cut for the rich? If readers' heads are “exploding” they probably vote for Democrats. Most Trump voters already knew their taxes went down with the TC&JA and will again with the BBB. The only new news here is how much income taxes went up on the rich. Now readers know.

Bruce Jenket

Moultonborough