GOP Tax Day Tweet About Benefits For 'Hardworking Americans' Doesn't Go Well
The Republican National Committee took Tax Day as an opportunity to boast about the GOP tax law’s benefits to “hardworking Americans” on Monday, but critics on Twitter weren’t having it.
The GOP tweet didn’t mention that corporations — who saw their tax rate slashed from 35 to 21% — and the top richest 1% of the population are the law’s biggest beneficiaries. The tax law also contributed to the country’s $22 trillion debt, which is $2 trillion higher than when Trump took office and the largest in U.S. history.
The law is turning into a political headache for the Republican Party even as Trump traveled to Minnesota on Monday to whip up enthusiasm for what he called “historic tax relief.” Only 18 percent of Americans believe they paid less in taxes the first year of Trump’s law, according to a poll by The Hill released Monday.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center predicted last year that about 65 percent of Americans would benefit from the tax law, with an average cut of $1,260. Yet it predicted that only 27 percent of individuals in the lowest income quintile would get any benefit.
For many, tax savings this year are so modest that they’re barely noticeable. Former GOP House Majority Leader Paul Ryan bragged last year about a school secretary whose paycheck was up $1.50 a week thanks to the tax law.
The benefits are also uneven. Many homeowners in high-tax states with expensive property owe more taxes than ever because real estate tax deductions are now capped at $10,000.
Many people responded to the GOP Tax Day tweet by saying they’d written their first-ever checks to the IRS. Others slammed the inequity of the law’s benefits.
While Democrats are looking for more & more ways to spend taxpayer dollars, the #GOPTaxCuts have put money back into the pockets of hardworking Americans so that they can spend it on things that actually matter to them & their families.
— GOP (@GOP) April 14, 2019
You misspelled "corporations and the wealthy."
— Max MacKenzie (@CrashMK) April 14, 2019
Bless your heart- it’s Apr 14 not Apr 1 .
— TzedekTzedekTirdof (@cheryldronzek) April 14, 2019
Meanwhile, back in the real world: https://t.co/nqq27KuYTB
— Pedro Nicolaci da Costa (@pdacosta) April 15, 2019
Then there’s this. pic.twitter.com/ysZYBRKU9b
— Steve Barger (@slbarger2) April 14, 2019
Meanwhile back at the bunkhouse ( White House ), the hired hands are whistling Dixie while the bills are piling up and the deficit and debt explode and the GOP doesn't care at all. You are suffering from tax phobia.
— GameDayAggie (@gamedayaggie) April 14, 2019
Billionaires are not that hardworking .
Correction, (Appologies to @elonmusk) Many billionaires are not that hard working.— Truth to Power (@TheJewbyrd7777) April 15, 2019
Paid a hell of a lot more than Amazon did.
— Amy Penprase (@amypenprase) April 15, 2019
You lie shamelessly. Let’s talk about a useless 32 billion dollar wall and the Space Farce. Then let’s talk about the millions of dollars that Trump pockets every time he golfs at his own property. Our national debt has never been higher. Thanks for nothing @GOP.
— tweetiestate (@tweetiestate) April 15, 2019
How many Americans will find out this week that this whole thing has been a sham?
— Jim Hoover (@JimHoover17) April 15, 2019
... no they haven’t. The #TaxScam took money out of the hands of everyday people and put it in the hands of billionaires.
— michael dirksen (@michaelcdirksen) April 15, 2019
I did get some back. It will cover taking the family out for hamberders.
— TheDroningPool (@TheDroningPool) April 15, 2019
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.