WASHINGTON ‒ Low-income families stand to lose hundreds if not thousands of dollars in income while wealthy ones will gain even more, according to a new analysis of Congressional Republican tax and budget proposals.
The analysis from the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, which estimated that low-income families would “suffer significant losses in net income,” assumed that lawmakers will extend temporary provisions of the Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. It also assumes $880 billion in Medicaid cuts and $230 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.
The report estimated that families with a modified adjusted gross income of less than $10,000 would lose over $2,700 (or nearly a 15% reduction in income). Families who make between $10,000 and $20,000 would lose over $800, or about 4.4% reduction in income, while families who make between $20,000 and $30,000 would lose $400, or about 1.5% reduction in income.
In comparison, families with higher incomes would benefit from the extension of the 2017 tax cuts, including the expansion of the child tax credit.
For instance, the institute estimated that families with an income of $75,000 to $100,000 would see a net gain of $1,220, or 1.8% in after-tax, after-transfer income. That figure increases to $2,360 for families who make between $100,000 to $200,000 and $13,200 for families with an income of above $200,000.
This report notes that the analysis “excludes other unspecified tax changes that might be included in a reconciliation bill.”
These estimates come as Republicans in Congress have been hashing out the details of a mega-bill to advance President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda. One of Trump’s demands has been making his tax cuts permanent ‒ which would decrease federal tax revenue by $4.5 trillion over the next decade, according to the Tax Foundation.
Medicaid, which provides health insurance to more than 70 million low-income Americans, has also been a subject of debate among lawmakers. Democrats and even some Republicans have railed against potential cuts to the program.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., argued in a New York Times opinion piece published May 12 that Congress should be doing everything to make working families’ healthcare “better and more affordable.”
“If Congress cuts funding for Medicaid benefits, Missouri workers and their children will lose their health care. And hospitals will close. It’s that simple. And that pattern will replicate in states across the country,” he wrote.
House Republicans released a proposal late Sunday that would enact work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks for Medicaid, among other things.
New Jersey Democrat Rep. Frank Pallone, who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, blasted the proposal in a statement.
“This is not trimming fat from around the edges, it’s cutting to the bone. The overwhelming majority of the savings in this bill will come from taking health care away from millions of Americans. Nowhere in the bill are they cutting ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ ‒ they’re cutting people’s health care and using that money to give tax breaks to billionaires,” Pallone said in a statement.
Contributing: Riley Beggin, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: GOP tax proposals help the wealthy, cost the poorer, report finds
