Statistics show the rich paid more under the tax change

To The Daily Sun,

I have been waiting the last year for the IRS to publish how much taxes were paid in 2018 verses 2017 and the data is in. It’s in two links, but correlating them was not difficult.

Here is the first link: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/18databk.pdf which on page 18 shows that the total taxes collected in 2017 were $3.412 trillion, and in 2018 were $3.465 trillion (an increase of $53 billion).

Here is the second link: https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2018/ which, in the first chart, shows that the low- and middle-income groups paid less of the total tax in 2018 than 2017. It also showed that the top 20% of wage-earners paid more. How much more? Well, if you do the calculations, in 2017, the top 20% paid $2.023 trillion of the $3.412 trillion collected, and in 2018, the top 20% paid $2.231 trillion of the $3.465 trillion collected. That was an INCREASE of $208 billion. By comparison, the remaining 80% of taxpayers paid $1.388 trillion in 2017 and $1.234 trillion in 2018, for a DECREASE of $154 billion.

So, how exactly did the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TC&JA) benefit the rich?

I challenge anyone to point out any errors in my numbers or source data above. I feel like the boy in the children’s story “The emperor has no clothes”. As soon as I looked at the TC&JA two years ago, it was obvious (to me) that it would benefit the lowest wage-earners the most. I had to do some serious math to confirm it would increase the tax burden on the rich but, as expected, it did. It was not obvious at first, but not difficult to calculate with my math background. Yes, I took calculus in college and also took probability and statistics. I didn’t need the calculus, but I did need the statistics to figure out how the Democrats and left-leaning media have been deceiving the American voter since it passed.

Back in college, I remember a quote that went like this: “There are lies, boldface lies, and statistics.” What the Democrats and the left-leaning media have done with their false claim that the TC&JA benefited the rich over the poor borders on criminal. I could explain how they deceived the American public, but I have already done that in previous letters. Here are just two. https://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/policy-center-underestimated-benefits-of-republican-tax-cut/article_b6e3f2c6-bd12-11e9-bea6-1fb4ca78d9e8.html and https://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/democrats-and-left-leaning-media-can-t-face-the-facts/article_e2a84b74-78c9-11e9-b2a3-4b452e2711c9.html.

I’ll close this letter with two questions. Does the truth matter to you? Do you want elected officials you can trust? The Democrats know they lied about the TC&JA and, if they don’t, they are incompetent and should be voted out.

Other lies include Obamacare will save voters $2,500, Russia collusion, Trump blackmailed the Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, and the list goes on. 2020 is the year it needs to stop. Do your part and vote out any congressman, congresswoman or senator that is for eliminating the TC&JA. It’s easy, just look for the (D) after their name.

Bruce Jenket

Moultonborough