Democrats and their proxies have produced new messaging around former President Donald Trump’s tax plans, claiming that a Trump White House will levy a $3,900 tax increase for middle class Americans.
The $3,900 bogeyman is made up. Trump’s proposed tax plan would attempt to eliminate income taxes for as many as 93 million Americans.
A chart depicting tax increases by income bracket shows low and middle income families hardest hit to drive home the message. But the misleading chart has also concealed the fact that there is no such tax increase amongst Trump’s tax proposals.
In fact, Trump believes income tax could be effectively eliminated for 93 million Americans through cuts in federal spending and additional tariffs. He has even floated the idea of doing away with income taxes altogether.
The chart depicts a liberal think tank’s hypothesis about what would happen to the prices of imported goods that families buy under Trump’s proposed tariffs.
Trump doubled revenues from tariffs during his first term, and the Consumer Price Index didn’t budge.
There are also complex diplomatic and security alignment considerations that go hand in hand with trade. Trump has proven an adept negotiator on the world stage, often employing the threat of taxes as a negotiating tactic.
What Americans often don’t know is that other economic blocs such as China and the EU levy steep tariffs on U.S. imports. In other words, US manufacturing exports can’t play on the same level.
So, the alarming claim that Trump’s tax plans would increase middle-class households’ tax obligations by thousands of dollars are false.
