Trump voters guarded about tax plan benefits
Elation in Congress last week not seen as much in heartland
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Ask someone like Sam Banks about the tax plan President Donald Trump signed into law Friday, and you hear something other than the effusive joy Republicans in Congress put on display last week.
The $1.5 trillion plan cuts taxes broadly while bestowing its richest benefits on companies and wealthy individuals. It is the first major legislative achievement for a president who rode to the White House with the fullthroated backing of people like Banks who felt America’s economic policies needed a drastic overhaul.
Yet Banks, a 50-year-old farmer in sparsely populated southwestern Iowa, regards the tax plan with a blend of indifference and uncertainty tinged with hope.
“They had to do something, though it took them long enough,” Banks said of the presidency and the Congress his party fully controls. “It’s going to help the companies. It’s got to help me a little, I suppose.”
In pockets of the country where Trump scored big with voters last year, the response to the tax overhaul is mainly a muted one. You’ll get a few blank stares, some confusion and a bit of hedged optimism. What you won’t hear is excitement.
Nearly all taxpayers will receive an initial tax cut. But an analysis by the Tax Policy Center shows that the gains favor the wealthy. For households earning between $48,600 and $86,100, the average tax cut in 2018 will be $930. But the top 1 percent of earners — with incomes above $732,800— will enjoy an average tax cut next year exceeding $50,000.
And companies will benefit from having their top marginal tax rate slashed to 21 percent from 35 percent — a permanent reduction unlike the tax cuts for individuals and families that expire after 2025.
What taxpayers will receive from the tax plan depends on their personal situations. Business people like Justin Dopierala appear most likely to benefit. Dopierala, 33, who runs an investment business out of Germantown, Wis., expects the changes to reduce taxes substantially on both his corporate and personal income.
“I’m sure my wife and children would love to take more family vacations,” he said.
In Beaumont, Texas, Chip Martel, a general contractor, says the tax changes will save his small business a substantial sum and perhaps enable him to expand his workforce of nine.
“I believe we’re in the process of making America great,” Martel said, echoing Trump’s campaign slogan.
Rich George, a farmer outside Detroit who boards horses, expressed hope that the tax plan’s provisions for the wealthy will ultimately help him because they will benefit his upper-income clients. He dismisses studies that show the tax plan will swell federal deficits by more than $1 trillion over a decade.
“I know it’s not going to happen,” George said. “You’re going to give people more money. They’re going to do more business. There’s going to be more people employed. There’s going to be more commerce. Manufacturing is going to go up.”
Then there is 88-yearold Marilyn Vanderlinden, an Iowa Trump voter who sounded appalled by the tax plan.
“This just means the rich are getting richer,” said the retired nurse.
Vanderlinden said she doubts the tax plan will benefit her small town of Centerville, whose median income is about half the state’s average.
“I voted for Trump, but I wish I could take it back,” she said. “He doesn’t listen.” Riccardi reported from Denver. Carrie Antlfinger in Germantown, Wisconsin; Mike Householder in Milford Township, Michigan; and John Mone in Beaumont, Texas, contributed.