Trump tax plan doubles down on NC’s misguided tax scheme

Progress NC Action released the following statement on Tuesday in response to Republican congressmen Ted Budd and Mark Walker joining state lawmakers Jon Hardister, Rick Gunn, and Lt. Gov. Dan Forest to tout Donald Trump’s tax plan which would give huge tax cuts to the wealthy at the expense of working families.

“It’s no wonder North Carolina Republicans like Jon Hardister were so quick to sign on to Donald Trump’s plan to give billions in tax breaks to the wealthy while raising taxes on working families,” said Gerrick Brenner, executive director of Progress NC Action. “After all, the NCGOP has been doing that for years in our state by raising taxes on gasoline, electricity, mobile homes, and even school supplies to pay for huge tax cuts for millionaires and big corporations. North Carolina’s lawmakers should be looking out for the people they were elected to represent, instead of helping Donald Trump line his own pockets at the rest of our expense.”

Trump’s tax proposal would reduce the share of taxes paid by the richest 1%, and would actually raise taxes on the poorest Americans. While Republicans have tried to highlight their proposal to repeal the estate tax, that doesn’t help the middle class because the estate tax only applies to families worth more than $11 million. And while many of the wealthiest corporations already pay nothing in taxes, Trump and the GOP want to cut corporate taxes even further.

“The GOP tax scheme is made by the rich to benefit the rich,” added Brenner. “The rest of us are getting stuck with the bill. North Carolina and the United States need a tax plan that will help working families get ahead, not this twisted scheme to loot the American Dream which Republicans have proposed.”