The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released a report that details what officials called “immense handout to the wealthy” found in the Republican proposal to expand the tax deduction for passthrough entities.
The JCT analysis outlined how people at different income levels would benefit from the proposal in the Republican budget bill. Specifically, it found that:
- Half of the benefit will go to millionaires and billionaires.
- Nearly two-thirds of the benefit will go to those who earn more than half a million per year.
- Nearly a third of the benefit will go to ultra-wealthy individuals in the top 0.1 percent of earners.
Further, it detailed that in the last year before the bill’s expiration, the average annual tax break for an ultra-wealthy individual in the top 0.1 percent will be nearly $280,000.
“Republicans talk about this tax break like it’s all about the corner stores and auto mechanics people think of when they hear the phrase ‘small business,’ but the truth is, it’s just another Trojan horse for handouts to the ultra-wealthy,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who released the rep[ort, said. “If Republicans had any interest in targeting the passthrough deduction to true small businesses, the kind that line Main Streets all across America, I’d help them write the bill myself. Instead, they’re going to stuff $400 billion into the pockets of millionaires and billionaires, and they’re going to pay for it by slashing Medicaid, increasing child hunger and taxing the middle class.”
The report added that including the proposed increase to 23 percent, the passthrough deduction would cost more than $800 billion.