Beware: Incoming Propaganda as Top CEOs Push Devastating Trump Tax Cuts

Don't be fooled by top CEOs new ad doing advance messaging in preparation for Republicans passing Trump's tax cuts, which will hurt the economy and us.

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Top CEOs via Business Roundtable have taken out a new ad today doing advance messaging in preparation for Republicans passing the huge Trump tax cuts for the rich set to hurt the economy.

Before we get to their propaganda, we need to acknowledge the fact that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office finds that extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) without offsets would HURT the economy.

The way this works is pretty tricky, because the original passage of the Trump tax cuts was set up so that the harmful raising of the taxes on the middle class would hit after several years, meanwhile the wealthiest people and business would be enjoying the ongoing fruits of that radical shift of burden.

In 2017, Brookings pointed out, “The benefits of the law tilt toward the well-off both now and in the future, according to the distributional analysis of the Tax Policy Center. By 2027, benefits of the tax law flow entirely to the rich. (The Joint Committee on Taxation finds similar results using a different measure.)”

Even now, Republicans are selling this massive gift to corporations and the wealthy as a boon for the middle class, but this relies upon cherry picking the frame of the data, as tax experts explained to CNBC: “Both sides can be correct depending on the frame of reference, tax experts said.”

Basically, regular Americans “would get a 2.9% boost in income after taxes in 2026, on average, according to the Tax Foundation.

However, with an extension, the largest tax cuts would accrue to the highest-income families, the Treasury said.

Household in the top 5% — who earn more than $450,000 a year, roughly — are the “biggest winners,” according to a July 2024 analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. They’d get over 45% of the benefits of extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it said.

Trump’s previous gift to wealthy individuals is set to expire at the end of 2025.

Sneaky: We Pay More

CAP’s analysis pointed out a critical part of this shell game in which we all would pay more in other ways, “A new report released Friday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) finds that extending these tax cuts without paying for them would make the economy worse—not better. In fact, the extension of these tax cuts would raise costs of consumer borrowing, such as car loans, student loans, and mortgages:

Economic growth would be faster in the first several years after the extension of the tax provisions and slower over the longer term than in the extended baseline, and interest rates would be higher.”

“The CBO found that there would be a small amount of near-term boost to growth. However, over time, extending the tax cuts—which disproportionately flow to the richest Americans, giving the top 0.1 percent a $278,000 tax cut—would harm the economy, with the harm growing over time.”

Here’s Center for American Progress’ chart:

Center for American Progress analysis chart

Why is this happening now?

Because Republicans are reportedly pushing to pass Trump’s budget ASAP.

“Senate Majority Leader John Thune told a private meeting of Senate Republicans Wednesday that the chamber may vote on a joint House-Senate budget resolution next week,” Punchbowl Newsletter reported. And to accomplish this, they are plotting on how to pass this budget via reconciliation in a way that hasn’t been done before.

Republicans are also hoping to pass these PERMANENT tax cuts without requiring massive new offsets. That is to say, without paying for them.

Some Republicans Hope Medicaid Cuts Will Help Pay for Their Gift to the Wealthy

Republicans are good at stagecraft, and they are also not all in line until Dear Leader opens his mouth. So right now, they are having some disagreements on this shady multi-trillion-dollar tax-cut move, with some Republicans “at odds over changes to Medicaid.”