[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 71 (Wednesday, April 26, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S2541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        The President's Tax Plan

  Mr. President, today we will also be hearing some details--we don't 
know how many--about the President's tax plan. We will take a look at 
what they are proposing, but I can tell you this: If the President's 
plan is to give a massive tax break to the very wealthy in this 
country--a plan that will mostly benefit people and businesses like 
President Trump's--that will not pass muster with Democrats.
  The very wealthy are doing pretty well in America. Their incomes keep 
going up. Their wealth keeps going up. God bless them. Let them do 
well. But they don't need another huge tax break while middle-class 
Americans and those struggling to get there need help just staying 
afloat. It is already the case that CEOs and other folks at the top of 
the corporate ladder can use deductions and loopholes to pay less in 
taxes than their secretaries. We don't need a plan that establishes the 
same principle in the basic rates by allowing wealthy businessmen, like 
President Trump, to use passthrough entities to pay 15 percent in taxes 
while everyone else pays in the twenties and thirties. We don't need a 
tax plan that allows the very rich to use passthroughs to reduce their 
rates to 15 percent while average Americans are paying much more. That 
is not tax reform. That is just a tax giveaway to the very, very 
wealthy that will explode the deficit.
  So we will take a look at what the President proposes later today. If 
it is just another deficit-busting tax break for the very wealthy, I 
predict their proposal will land with a dud with the American people.