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AlterNet reports
When Republicans in Congress passed a big, fat tax break bill in December, they insisted it meant American workers would be singing "Happy Days Are Here Again" all the way to the bank. The payoff from the tax cut would be raises totaling $4,000 to $9,000, the President's Council of Economic Advisers assured workers. But something bad happened to workers on their way to the repository. They never got that money.
In fact, their real wages declined because of higher inflation. At the same time, the amount workers had to pay in interest on loans for cars and credit cards increased. And, to top it off, Republicans threatened to make workers pay for the tax break with cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. So now, workers across America are wondering, "Where's that raise?". It's nowhere to be found.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that wages for production and nonsupervisory workers decreased by 0.1 percent from May 2017 to May 2018 when inflation is factored in. The compensation for all workers together, including supervisors, rose an underwhelming 0.1 percent from April 2018 to May 2018.
That's not what congressional Republicans promised workers. They said corporations, which got the biggest, fattest tax cuts of all, would use that extra money to increase wages. Some workers got one-time bonuses and an even smaller number received raises. But not many. The group Americans for Tax Fairness estimates it's 4.3 percent of all U.S. workers.
The New York Times story about this record breaker describes the phenomena this way: "Companies buy back their shares when they believe they have nothing better to do with their money than to return capital to shareholders." So despite promises from the GOP and the President's Council of Economic Advisers, corporations believed further enriching their own executives and shareholders was a much better way to use the money than increasing workers' wages--wages that have been stagnant for decades.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Sulla on Thursday June 21 2018, @10:37PM (7 children)
My salary went up by 3k/year and my taxes went down by 3k/year. So I have no complaints.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Thursday June 21 2018, @10:49PM
And Sulla promised me he'd give me half, so I have no complaints either!
Thanks, Sulla! :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Touché) by slinches on Thursday June 21 2018, @11:04PM
#MeToo
(that is the new "this", right?)
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 22 2018, @12:36AM
(Score: 2) by slinches on Friday June 22 2018, @12:54AM
One thing to note about this article is that it doesn't account for the personal income tax cuts in its "analysis" of the tax cuts. All it says is that the corporate tax cuts haven't impacted gross hourly wages on average. Even if this meant that few people were getting raises (not necessarily true*), the vast majority of people have seen a significant reduction in taxes on those earnings, so they are keeping more of that income.
*an alternative explanation is that many people's wages have increased, but that has been offset by hiring more entry level employees.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Aegis on Friday June 22 2018, @01:32AM (1 child)
Your deduction went down 3k (allegedly).
You'll know if your taxes went down at the end of the year.
You're assuming that the Trump admin did some math correctly which hasn't had a great track record thus far.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday June 22 2018, @02:42AM
Im an accountant, i dont have to rely on the trump admin for how the taxes will work out. The changes were pretty simple.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 1) by i286NiNJA on Friday June 22 2018, @04:57PM
Make sure you get right up in the face of evert greasy handed working joe and tell him.
I'm posting my windfalls to facebook along with this article right now. I can't wait to thank all my Trump voting family for their generosity.