Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Job Creators Network and the retired co-founder of The Home Depot, defends the Republican-led Senate’s recently passed tax cut bill from Democrat critics who accuse the bill of having a “reverse Robin Hood” effective of stealing from working and middle class Americans to give to the wealthiest one percent.
Writing in an op-ed in the Hill, Marcus takes particular aim at the criticisms of his “fellow billionaire Tom Steyer.”
From his op-ed in the Hill:
In reality, Mr. Steyer’s contention that the tax plan is “absolutely terrible” for working Americans couldn’t be further from the truth. The Senate bill has numerous — and underreported — provisions that offer real relief to working Americans.
The bill doubles the standard deduction to $24,000, meaning that the roughly 25 percent of American families that earn less than this threshold will pay no federal income tax at all. The tens of millions of working-class Americans who earn slightly above it will see their total tax bill significantly reduced as a result.
The Senate bill also kills the 15 percent tax rate that currently kicks in at just $18,650 of taxable family income in favor of an expanded 12 percent rate that covers earned income all the way up to $77,400.
The bill also doubles the child tax credit to $2,000 per child per year. This means the average family with children will save $2,000 to $3,000 dollars a year from this provision alone.
Read the rest here.