For eight years running, most of the media and other Democrats have spread the lies that the 2017 tax bill reduced revenue, ran up debts and deficits, and only helped the rich.
Take the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a “think tank” that claims to be non-partisan. It is funded by leftist organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. It is as non-partisan as NPR and PBS.
Last week, it published an article pretending to tell the truth as it campaigns for Democrats. I cannot recall ever before seeing so many lies in one paragraph as I do in the essay:
Numerous independent analyses have shown that the 2017 tax law, which the bill is expected to extend, was skewed to the rich, drove up deficits and debt, and failed to deliver on its economic promises. It also has proved unpopular with the public. The 2025 bill should be held to a much higher standard than the 2017 bill, given its poor record of achievement, the higher risks the country now faces due to higher levels of debt, and the more uncertain economic outlook. (Footnotes omitted.)
Once I read the above paragraph, which was the second one of the article, I didn’t go any further because it was pure garbage.
Lie #1: Saying numerous independent analyses have shown anything. There is not one independent analysis that could have shown what they say in the paragraph.
Lie #2: Saying it was skewed for the rich. Every taxpayer benefited, and the poor and middle class got bigger percentage reductions than the rich. The rich got penalized greatly with the limits on state and local tax deductions. The rich pay a bigger share of taxes than they ever have.
Lie# 3: The tax cuts drove up deficits and debt. That is the most obvious lie. Federal revenues have risen substantially for the eight years following the rate cuts, and higher revenues do not raise debts and deficits. Only increasing spending much faster than revenue increases causes debts to rise.
Why don’t the media and think tanks ever show the following facts about tax revenues? The answer is they do not want the public to know.
In FY 2017, before the rate cuts, total federal revenue was $3.3 trillion. Individual income taxes were $1.587 trillion, withholding was $1.162 trillion, and corporate income taxes were $297 billion.
In FY 2024, seven years after the rate cuts were passed, federal revenues were up to $4.9 trillion, up around 50%, Individual income taxes were $2.4 trillion, up over 50%, Withholding taxes were $1.709 trillion, up 47%, and corporate income taxes were $530 billion, up 78%.
All of the taxes went up much faster than inflation, which was 28% for the period 2017 to 2024. Sadly, over 20% of the inflation occurred while Biden was in office.
Lie #5: The tax rate cuts failed to deliver on their promises. This is another obvious lie.
The promise was that the cuts would help the economy and help people have higher real wages. And the cuts’ results were that poverty hit record lows and real wages were rising for everyone, especially those at the bottom and people of all races:
Real median household income increased by $4,400 in 2019, reaching an all-time record high of $68,700. This represents a 6.8 percent one-year increase, which is the largest one-year increase in median income on record. Since 2016, real median household income has increased by 9.7 percent (after adjusting for a Census survey redesign in 2017).
Income gains in 2019 were largest for minority groups. Real median income grew by 7.9 percent for black Americans, 7.1 percent for Hispanic Americans, and 10.6 percent for Asian Americans (see Figure 1). These one-year increases were all record highs, and the new income levels reached in 2019 were all record highs, as well.
Think how much better it could be if the media and other Democrats weren’t lying and seeking to destroy Trump every day for the last ten years.
Lie #6: The tax bill is unpopular with the public. According to a poll, 85% want the tax rate cuts extended. That is pretty popular.
Another lie that we constantly hear is that extending the tax rates will cost $4.5 trillion. Keeping the rates the same costs nothing, and revenues will continue to rise. Only in the DC fictional world will raising rates back to 2017 rates raise $4.5 trillion when the lower rates have provably raised more money.
The higher rates would slow down the economy and further destroy Americans’ purchasing power, especially among the poor and middle class, people whom the media and other Democrats only pretend to care about. All they really care about is more power and money for the government.
Conclusion: Don’t ever believe any organization that pretends to be a non-partisan think tank. These organizations have an agenda, and they don’t care how many lies they have to tell to intentionally mislead the public.
Image created using AI.