As Republicans unveiled their tax bill that is promising to cut taxes for middle-class Americans, they revealed they don’t actually have any idea what middle-class Americans are.
A fact sheet Republicans published on Thursday about the tax bill refers to Americans earning $450,000 a year as “low- and middle-income.”
HIGHLIGHTS from the GOP tax reform bill being passed out in closed-door meeting pic.twitter.com/MSmEtFmUfj
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) November 2, 2017
The median household income in the United States is $59,039. A salary of $450,000 a year would put a person in the top 0.05 percent of American taxpayers.
The Tax Policy Center defines the middle class as people earning between $48,300 and $85,600 a year.
The GOP made the announcement as part of the rollout of the tax cut plan, saying they would cut tax rates from 39.6 percent to 35 percent for those $450,000-earning middle-class members
“Did somebody make a mistake?” AFL-CIO Policy Director Damon Silvers laughed when Newsweek told him of the income classifications by the GOP. “[Republicans] think that the income level of the top one percent is lower- and middle-class. This is a world where if you make less than $500,000, you don’t exist.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer said the bill would only serve to benefit the wealthy while leaving the middle class behind. Sen. Ron Wyden had even harsher words, calling the bill a “middle-class con job.”
“For America’s middle class, this monstrously regressive Republican tax plan gives ‘mean’ new meaning,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.
But Americans aren’t fooled — 60 percent say the tax cut plan favors the wealthy, according to an ABC poll.
“GOP argues their plan gives the middle class a tax break. What they won’t tell you is many middle-class families will see their taxes go up,” Schumer tweeted on Tuesday.
GOP argues their plan gives the middle class a tax break. What they wont tell you is many middle class families will see their taxes go up.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 2, 2017
The bill wasn’t settling well with some of the Republican contingents either.
“This does not reflect the hopes and aspirations of Main Street Republicans around the country,” Republican strategist John Weaver told The Washington Post.
