Seth Meyers has a tax tip for Trump: 'Claim your defendants as dependents'
President Trump has been touting the GOP tax plan as a wonderful thing for the middle class, but in reality, Seth Meyers said on Thursday's Late Night, it will benefit the ultra wealthy — like Trump.
"The only thing that would be more beneficial to Donald Trump is a tax break that lets you claim your defendants as dependents," Meyers said. Trying to pass tax reform is a last-ditch effort for Republicans to get something done before the year is over, he said, and it shouldn't be that difficult for a group that has crowed about fixing the tax system for years and years. "Tax cuts are to the Republican Party what 'Piano Man' is to Billy Joel," Meyers said. "Whenever they think they're losing the crowd and people are heading for the exits, they can break that one out and everybody's gonna sing along."
Meyers went into some detail on how the House Republicans' plan would affect the middle class — decreasing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent results in a $1 trillion loss of revenue, and to make that up, important deductions that help residents in states like California and New Jersey, like the state and local tax deduction, would be eliminated. What's not touched? A tax break for golf club owners, which would directly benefit Trump. Watch the video below for more on the tax plan, and for Meyers' oddly accurate impression of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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