Photo Courtesy of The White House
President Trump, Vice President Pence and GOP congressional leaders are all smiles and thumbs up on Thursday in the Oval Office after Trump signed the tax cuts bill into law.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The House of Representatives last Wednesday passed the tax reform bill, and President Donald Trump signed the $1.5 trillion measure into law on Friday as New York Democrats continued to rip it as legislation written solely for the benefit of corporations and the wealthy.
“It’s going to be a tremendous thing for the American people. It’s going to be fantastic for the economy. It’s going to keep companies from leaving our shores and opening up in other countries. They are very dis-incentivized to do that. There’s not — a lot of not a sense to do that. You do that, and I don’t think you’re going to be running your company very well,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Friday. “And all of this — everything in here — is really tremendous things for businesses, for people, for the middle class, for workers. And I consider this very much a bill for the middle class and a bill for jobs. And jobs are produced through companies and corporations, and you see that happening. Corporations are literally going wild over this, I think even beyond my expectations, so far beyond my expectations.”
According to the GOP, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lowers individual tax rates for low- and middle-income Americans; improves savings vehicles for education and provides support for graduate students; increases the standard deduction and expands the child tax credit; delivers tax relief to “Main Street” job creators; preserves the home mortgage interest deduction; eliminates the ObamaCare Individual Mandate Penalty; prevents jobs, headquarters, and research from moving overseas; lowers the corporate tax rate to 21 percent.
U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Queens and Brooklyn) delivered impassioned remarks last week, blasting the new law as nothing more than a ruse for the rich.
“We’re back on the House floor after this big dramatic celebration of this supposedly historic bill – a Republican tax bill that really is nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s the classic bait and switch. It’s a Ponzi scheme. The tax cuts aren’t going to be meaningful for working families and everyday Americans and the jobs will never materialize,” Jeffries said. “It’s a Republican tax bill that is simply designed to benefit millionaires and billionaires, the wealthy and the well off, special interests, corporations and big donors. It is a shameful abdication of responsibility.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio characterized Trump’s claim that the new measure will be a benefit for everyday people as “fiction.”
“But what’s more and more clear is it’s a big Christmas gift for the wealthy and the corporations,” Hizzoner added. “And I’ll tell you something, people all over the country understand this – it’s amazing when you look at the public response, no one is falling for it. They understand what motivated this tax bill – it’s of, and by, and for the millionaires and billionaires, and it’s going to be very clear to people in the coming years it’s one of the biggest giveaways to the wealthy in American history.”
