Donald Trump is pushing a tax plan that would give a $4 billion tax cut to his own children. Meanwhile, the TrumpCare plan being pushed through the Senate would take healthcare away from 22 million of the poorest Americans.
As criticisms of the GOP’s healthcare reforms mount, there is increased attention on the steps Donald Trump and Republicans appear ready to take to benefit the richest of Americans while pulling the safety net out from many of the poorest.
On Monday, the Congressional Budge Office released what CNN termed a “devastating report” on the Senate Republican health care bill, also known as TrumpCare. The report found that 22 million more people would become uninsured under the plan than under Obamacare by 2026, many of them through the rollbacks of Medicaid that expanded under Obamacare.
Others have criticized the bill for its massive tax cuts aimed at the very wealthiest Americans while pulling back on those Medicaid protections for the poorest. As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote for The Guardian , the health care proposal would be “the largest single transfer of wealth to the rich from the middle class and poor in American history.”
“America’s wealthiest taxpayers (earning more than $200,000 a year, $250,000 for couples) would get a tax cut totaling $346bn over 10 years, representing what they save from no longer financing healthcare for lower-income Americans,” he wrote.
“That’s not all. The bill would save an additional $400bn on Medicaid, which Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and Donald Trump are intent on shrinking in order to cut even more taxes for the wealthy and for big corporations.”
New CBO score for Senate bill:
2018: 15 million more would be uninsured than under Obamacare
2020: 19 million more
2026: 22 million more pic.twitter.com/7cMnfDnZZr
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 26, 2017
Donald Trump, the CBO Score and the Real Impact of the Senate’s Republican Health Care Plan. https://t.co/ScyXHmePjd
— President News (@President) June 27, 2017
That would dovetail with other plans Donald Trump has to offer tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Trump is reportedly pushing a tax reform plan that would repeal the estate tax, which PoliticusUSA noted would be a windfall for the wealthiest of Americans — especially Trump’s own children.
“Donald Trump’s plan to repeal the Estate Tax would be a windfall for Trump’s own children who could get as much as $4 billion tax cut, as at least 24 million Americans are facing the loss of their health insurance coverage,” noted the report from April after the details of Trump’s tax reform plan leaked.
There is still some debate over how much ownership Donald Trump should have over the health care reform package. He has preferred to take a more hands-off approach that Barack Obama, who shepherded the Obamacare plans through Congress in a very thorough process that included input from across the health care spectrum.
The Republican health care plan has come together much more quickly, mostly behind closed doors and reportedly without much input from Trump himself. But Donald Trump has also taken up the fight to pass the plan through, reportedly meeting with Republican Senators who have expressed hesitancy in voting for the bill.
While Donald Trump’s plans to offer giant tax cuts through both TrumpCare and the tax reform plan have drawn sharp criticism, there is also plenty of skepticism over whether either of them will make it through. The Republican health care plan is still at least two votes shy of passage, and the tax reform plan would likely face uphill battles as well — even more so if the TrumpCare plan falls through and delivers another blow to the Republican agenda.
[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
