“It’s a lot of fun when you win,”
Trump said at a public ceremony for the bill, but not even the GOP benefited from the tax cuts — at least, not politically. Many Americans were
underwhelmed by the legislation, and didn’t see much of an impact on their lives or pocketbooks. Likely recognizing they had a losing issue on their hands, Republicans
didn’t campaign on them; they still lost big in the midterms.
Electorally, the tax cuts were losers, because for the average American they were insignificant enough to go largely unnoticed. The average Republican politician, though, made out like a bandit. The median Republican senator was worth
$1.4 million according to Roll Call when the tax cuts were signed into law. Thanks to the Trump tax breaks, millionaires, including these senators, collectively saved an estimated
$17.4 billion according to a report from the Joint Committee on Taxation. The same men who pushed this law through, and their donors and backers likely even more so, also benefited immensely from it.
At the same time, the Americans they are supposed to represent lost out. It’s true that some middle-class folks
did see an extra $30 or so on their paycheck each month, which is all good and fine for a Friday pizza night. But the tax cuts have now led the Republican Party to push the other half of their financial boondoggle: Cutting social welfare programs.
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