Data prove it: The Trump tax cuts soaked the rich By Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore

[Geee]

NY Post

The latest IRS data on who bears the income-tax burden demonstrate yet again the benefits of lower tax rates over higher rates. 

Bernie Sanders should pay attention.

When President Donald Trump entered office, the richest 1% of tax filers ($675,000 of income and above) paid a little more than 40% of the income taxes collected.

The 2017 Trump tax cut reduced the effective highest federal tax rate to 37% from 42%.

Both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders then as now condemned this as a giveaway to the rich. 

But the most recent IRS tax return data (for 2021) confirm that even as these rates were lowered — not to mention the corporate tax rate cut from 35% to 21% — the share of the tax burden shouldered by the 1% rose to almost 46%.

 

Why is everyone always caught by surprise when this happens? 

High-income earners shelter less and earn more when top tax rates fall.

That shouldn’t astonish anyone.

The chart below shows the inverse relationship between the highest tax rate applied and the share of taxes paid by the rich.

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