IT’S OFFICIAL: IRS DATA CONFIRMS THAT DEMOCRATS ARE NOW THE PARTY OF THE RICH
by Kevin Ryan
In 1993, Democrats represented a huge majority of the poor and middle class congressional districts, while Republicans controlled a huge majority of the top earning districts.
Today, that dynamic has flipped.
Republicans now control a large majority of the middle class districts, while Democrats represent an overwhelming share of the rich districts.
The trend is even more visible when looking at the top 20% richest districts:
1993
Republican: 62%
Democrat: 38%
2020
Republican: 17%
Democrat: 83%
Indeed Democrats now represent 65% of all households making $500,000 or more, according to IRS data, while 74% of taxpayers in Republican districts have a household income less than $100,000.
This explains why Democrats are pushing so hard to end Donald Trump’s cap on the state and local tax deduction. Trump’s 2017 tax bill capped the federal tax deduction for state and local taxes (SALT) -- a popular write-off with taxpayers in high-tax, high-property-value states -- at $10,000.
Democrats are now campaigning on restoring that deduction.
“I’m not voting for any change in the tax code whatsoever unless there’s the restoration of the SALT tax deduction,” Representative Tom Suozzi (D-NY) said.
And nearly two dozen other Democrats, including 17 New York and New Jersey Representatives such as Bill Pascrell, Josh Gottheimer, Mikie Sherrill, and Tom Malinowski, have made the same pledge.
The deduction overwhelmingly helps the richest 1%.
Democrats are hoping the move will allow their rich voters to accept proposed increases in the top individual tax rate, and the top capital gains rate, and the corporate tax rate, among other things.
Dems are also pushing cultural issues to the forefront of the national discussion, drawing attention away from their efforts to soak their newfound rich constituency. However, this push risks creating the impression that the party of the wealthy is inciting unrest over Twitter from the safety of their gated communities, while the poor and middle class actually have to suffer the consequences of the resulting riots in their districts.
It’s a dangerous political balancing act for Democrats, who hold a slim 218 to 212 advantage in the House, and a tie in the Senate.
SOURCES: https://news.bloombergtax.com/daily...e-bet-relies-on-their-new-500-000-plus-voters
The SALT tax deduction is a handout to the rich. It should be eliminated not expanded
Rather than seeking to remove the cap on the SALT deduction, policymakers would do better to consider steps towards the removal of the deduction itself.www.brookings.edu
We all know they're worried about the poor middle class tho
