The Great Republican Tax Heist of 2017

Republicans are enriching themselves by looting the country

Looting.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Image courtesy iStock)

Republicans finally rammed their tax bill through the House and the Senate on Tuesday. And while they still need to go through the motions with one last House vote today, the game is up. This wretched piece of economic policy designed almost solely to transfer income and wealth to the very top of the income ladder is about to become law. As Greg Sargent shows, a large majority of the country will face tax hikes by 2027 — while over nine-tenths of the top 0.1 percent will get a tax cut averaging over $200,000.

So it's not too surprising that the bill is horrendously unpopular. But because of that unpopularity (and its explosion of the deficit), Republicans had to resort to outright bribery to get it through. Anyone with a lingering shred of conscience, like Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), are getting personal tax breaks, while others like Speaker of the House Paul Ryan are reportedly going to resign in advance of public backlash.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.