Monday, November 20, 2017

White House’s Cohn touts ‘trickle-down’ benefits in GOP tax plan

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/white-houses-cohn-touts-trickle-down-benefits-gop-tax-plan
"It’s worth appreciating, just as a matter of political rhetoric, that there are certain phrases that the right has learned to avoid. Advocates of privatizing public education, for example, steer clear of the word “vouchers,” for example, because they’re not popular – so they use pleasant sounding euphemisms such as “school choice” instead. Similarly, advocates of massive tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations tend to avoid references to “trickle-down” tax policies because most of the public is repulsed by the idea of giving more money to those at the very top and waiting for prosperity to eventually work its way to everyone else. And yet, Cohn, perhaps inadvertently, said what he actually believed, confirming what critics of the Republican plan have been saying all along. In the same CNBC interview, Cohn added, “It’s not our intention to give the wealthy a tax cut.” Harwood, familiar with reality, responded, “But they’re getting one.” The White House adviser added, “I don’t believe that we’ve set out to create a tax cut for the wealthy.” This might be one of the greatest quotes of the tax debate thus far. According to Gary Cohn, the Republican plan delivers massive tax benefits to millionaires and billionaires, but that’s not what he and the plan’s co-authors “set out” to do. Congratulations, wealthy Americans, Republicans are poised to give you enormous amounts of money – by accident."