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Special 50-State Report: How the Republican Tax Giveaway to the Wealthy Would Hurt Families

Washington, D.C. – The Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Committee today released a special 50-state report detailing how the Republican tax plan is a giveaway to the wealthy that would hurt families across the country.  The report shows how the Republican plan would raise taxes on middle-class families, give a huge tax break to millionaires and billionaires, and put deductions and tax credits that working families rely upon at risk. 

All 50 state reports may be found here and a sample report for the state of Florida may be found below. 

How the Republican Tax Giveaway to the Wealthy Would Hurt Florida Families

  • The Republican tax plan would actually raise taxes on 992,000 Florida households next year.
  • In Florida, 2,118,002 households deduct state and local taxes, with an average deduction of $7,373. The Republican plan eliminates this deduction.
  • 1,499,240 Florida households deduct their mortgage interest payments. Under the Republican tax plan, this deduction would become useless for most families unless their home was worth more than $801,000 – more than three times the median home value in Florida of $211,200.

Tax hikes on the middle class:

  • The Republican tax plan would raise taxes on 992,000 Florida households, or 10.3 percent of households in 2018. [IRS, 2015; ITEP, 2017]
  • Nearly 8 million families nationwide earning up to $86,100 would receive an average tax increase of $794, a significant burden for middle-class families. Here’s what Florida households could do with that money:
    • Pay for 1.4 months of child care
    • Pay for 6.0 months of electric bills
    • Pay for 1.5 months of health care premiums [JEC, 2017]
  • According to the IRS, 22 percent of tax filers, or 2 million Florida households, deduct their state and local taxes with an average deduction of $7,373 in 2015. President Trump’s plan eliminates this deduction, which would lower home values and put pressure on states and towns to collect revenues they depend on to fund schools, roads, and vital public resources. [IRS, 2015; GFOA, 2015]
  • In 2015, 1.5 million Florida tax filers deducted their mortgage interest payments from their taxes. By doubling the standard deduction and eliminating the State and Local Tax deduction, Trump’s plan would make the mortgage interest deduction useless for most of those with homes valued under $801,000, more than three times the $211,200 value of the median Florida home. [IRS, 2015; Zillow, 2017]
  • Middle-class families in Florida making between $33,700 and $54,200 per year who do benefit see only 3.2 percent of the total benefits of the tax plan. [ITEP, 2017]

Tax cuts for the wealthiest:

  • The Institute on Taxes and Economic Policy finds that millionaires in Florida (32,880 total, or 0.34 percent of filers in 2015) would receive 62.0 percent of the benefits from the tax plan. [ITEP, 2017]
  • In Florida, only 620 total estates (0.3 percent of all estates) are subject to estate tax, which only affects people whose estates are worth more than $5.5 million ($10.98 million for couples). [CBPP 2015]

Leaving working families behind:

  • The Republican plan eliminates the personal exemption, which deducts $4,050 for each taxpayer and dependent on a return from taxable income. In Florida, 5.5 million dependent exemptions were claimed in 2015. [IRS, 2015]
  • Republicans in Congress have already taken aim at the Earned Income Tax Credit, which encourages work for 2.2 million low-income individuals in Florida, helping them make ends meet with an average credit of $2,460. [IRS, 2015; CBPP 2014]
  • The EITC and the Child Tax Credit lift, on average, 600,000 Floridians (including 311,000 children) out of poverty each year. [CBPP, 2014]

*Calculations based on 9,627,280 returns filed in 2015. [IRS, 2015]

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