“This tax plan is bad for Maine,” said Sarah Austin, a policy analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy. “If enacted, these lopsided cuts will only serve to worsen the growing gap between the richest households and everyone else and will trigger deep cuts in this and future budgets to everything from medical research, to job training, to infrastructure and other investments that grow our economy.”
New Analysis Confirms Trump Tax Plan a Windfall for Wealthy, One in Seven Mainers Will Pay More
AUGUSTA, MAINE (October 4, 2017) – The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) released state level analysis today of President Trump’s tax proposal, which disproportionately benefits the wealthiest 1%. The house budget resolution vote tomorrow, and the senate budget resolution vote expected in two weeks, opens a path to enact the president’s tax proposals with simple majorities in the chambers. The Maine Center for Economic Policy calls on Maine’s congressional leaders to oppose this regressive tax plan.
“This tax plan is bad for Maine,” said Sarah Austin, a policy analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy. “If enacted, these lopsided cuts will only serve to worsen the growing gap between the richest households and everyone else and will trigger deep cuts in this and future budgets to everything from medical research, to job training, to infrastructure and other investments that grow our economy.”
Almost one in seven Mainers would see their taxes go up in order to pay for tax cuts that disproportionately benefit wealthy Americans according to ITEP’s analysis. The top 1% of Mainers whose taxes would go down, those with incomes averaging $1.2 million per year, would see an average tax cut of $43,140. By comparison the poorest one-fifth of Mainers who get a tax cut and make an average of $13,000 per year would see their taxes go down by only $90. Under the Trump framework, 39% of all tax cuts will accrue to the top 1% of households in Maine.
“This is an outrageous rewrite of the tax code to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations,” said Austin. “When it comes to everybody else, the Trump proposal will force budget cuts that jeopardize the stability of programs such as Medicare and Social Security on which so many Mainers rely.”
To read the entire report or find more details on the impacts in Maine, go to www.itep.org/trumpgopplan.
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