[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6282]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        THE PRESIDENT'S TAX PLAN

  Mr. SCHUMER. On taxes, Mr. President, yesterday, Secretary Mnuchin, 
in an appearance at the Milken Institute Conference, admitted that the 
administration plans to go it alone on taxes. He said they are trying 
to design their proposal to fit into the rules of reconciliation so 
they need only Republican votes to pass their tax cut.
  The message was clear as day. The President is not interested in 
working with Democrats to craft a proposal that both parties can 
support. He is just going to pass his plan with Republican votes or not 
pass it at all. What that means is that the Trump tax plan likely will 
not have to change much from the 200-word outline that they put out 
last week, and that means the Trump tax plan will benefit the 
incredibly wealthy and the special interests while leaving the middle-
class, working Americans with crumbs, at best.
  We Democrats support tax relief, so long as it is aimed at the middle 
class and those struggling to get there. Those are the folks who really 
need the help. College is getting ever more expensive. Take-home pay is 
being squeezed in so many different directions. The middle class and 
those working to get there should be able to keep more of what they 
make, but the Trump tax plan seems designed to benefit his Cabinet and 
the incredibly wealthy on Wall Street, not Main Street and the middle 
class.
  There are many wealthy people doing very well in America. God bless 
them. Their lifestyles are getting better every year. Their incomes are 
getting better every day. They don't need the help, but the middle 
class does. But in the Trump plan, taxes on the very wealthy and big 
corporations would go down, while tax deductions that benefit the 
middle class would go away. For example, President Trump campaigned on 
getting rid of the carried interest loophole. Instead, his plan keeps 
the carried interest loophole and creates an even bigger loophole for 
the wealthiest by allowing the so-called passthrough entities, which 
include wealthy businessmen like President Trump, to pay just 15 
percent. So with this 15-percent passthrough, hedge fund managers, 
corporate lawyers, and big business CEOs who make millions of dollars 
every year would pay 15 percent, while their workers will pay 20, 25, 
30 percent.
  To add insult to injury, the Trump tax plan would repeal the estate 
tax, a tax on estates only of over $10 million--very wealthy people. 
How many of us have a $10 million estate? And it would result in the 
5,200 wealthiest families in America each year--or estates in America--
receiving an average $3 million windfall. While the Trump plan 
eliminates taxes for the very wealthy, it also eliminates tax breaks 
that are most beneficial to the middle class, like the State and local 
deduction. The loss of this deduction for those who use it would cost 
New Yorkers an average of $4,500 a year.
  The middle class has seen rising expenses and virtually stagnant 
incomes. They need tax relief, not the loss of key tax deductions that 
helped put a few more dollars in their pockets. And the biggest danger 
for the middle class might be what happens after the Trump tax plan 
gets passed, if that happens.
  A tax cut for the wealthy of the size President Trump is proposing 
would explode the deficit, costing between $5.5 trillion and $7 
trillion over 10 years, by some estimates. The Republicans might be 
willing to ignore the debt and deficit now in order to get their tax 
cut. But make no mistake about it, a few years down the line, they will 
start howling about the deficit again and say: Oh, we have no choice 
but to cut Social Security and Medicare to make up for the massive debt 
they created with their tax cut. This has been the nefarious goal of 
the hard right for decades.
  In fact, the same story played out during the Bush years. President 
Bush passed a big tax break, primarily for the wealthy. It racked up 
debt, and then he pursued deep cuts to the social safety net to try to 
balance the ledger. He might have gotten it, but Democrats stood in his 
way. This could be deja vu all over again.
  In sum, the very wealthy get a huge tax break while the middle class 
gets very little. And down the road, programs like Social Security and 
Medicare--so crucial to the middle class--would be endangered.
  If this administration wants to pursue such a plan all on their own, 
that is their choice, but as we saw with healthcare, the go-it-alone 
approach doesn't guarantee success. What it does guarantee is a very 
partisan bill that will benefit the very wealthy and the special 
interests--a bill that I predict will be very, very unpopular with the 
American people.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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