-Republicans passed a sweeping overhaul of the tax code
that will overwhelming benefit corporations and the wealthy,
amounting to nothing left than a brazen heist of the country.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
President Trump keeps his insisting,
despite all evidence to the contrary,
that this tax bill will not be a boon
to the richest Americans.
In fact, in the spirit of the holiday season,
he keeps calling it a Christmas gift to the middle class.
-This is gonna be one of the great gifts
to the middle-income people of this country
that they've ever gotten for Christmas.
It will be the greatest Christmas present
that a lot of people have ever received.
We're now one huge step closer to delivering
to the American people the historic tax relief
as a giant present for Christmas.
Remember I said we're bringing Christmas back?
Christmas is back,
bigger and better than ever before.
We're bringing Christmas back.
-It almost sounds like he was about to start singing.
[ Laughter ]
It's like he's doing a Weird Al cover
of a Justin Timberlake song.
"I'm bringing Christmas back.
Them other holidays are super whack."
[ Laughter ]
Also, Christmas didn't go anywhere.
We're all up to our necks in Christmas.
Every TV show has a Christmas episode.
Every commercial has a Christmas song.
There's a 70-foot tree outside my office window,
and every barista in town is wearing antlers.
If you want to bring something back, try Kwanzaa.
That thing straight-up disappeared.
[ Laughter ]
Of course, virtually every reputable study of the tax bill
says the corporations and the wealthy will benefit
far more than anyone else.
For one thing, the corporate tax cuts are permanent,
while the individual tax cuts expire,
which means that by 2027,
more than 80% of the plan's benefits go to the top 1%
while 53% of taxpayers will see a tax hike.
And if you just look at next year,
the plan's benefits are very heavily skewed
towards the wealthy.
Middle-income taxpayers would pay about $900 less
where the highest-income 1% of households
would get an average tax cut of roughly $50,000.
Here's what that means in real terms.
So, to recap, if you're rich,
you're getting a car for Christmas,
and if you're not, go ahead and wrap up a can of gas.
[ Laughter and applause ]
Of course, Republicans --
Ooh.
[ Laughter ]
I'm gonna set this next to the fire
and open it later.
[ Laughter ]
Of course, Republicans can't point to any actual proof
their plan would benefit lower- and middle-income people,
so all they can do is repeat vague talking points
about improving the economy.
For example, Ivanka Trump, the President's daughter
and adviser, tweeted this week...
Prompting a response from her father, who wrote...
Man, that's got to suck for Eric and Don Jr.
They tweet about their dad all the time...
[ Laughter ]
...and all they ever get is a broken upside-down heart.
[ Laughter ]
"What's the button for hate them?"
[ Laughter ]
And yet despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary,
Trump has repeatedly claimed not just that the wealthy,
in general, would be hurt by the bill,
but that he personally would pay more in taxes
than he did before.
-We're also going to eliminate tax breaks and complex loopholes
taken advantage of by the wealthy.
Who are they? I don't...
[ Laughter ]
I think my accountants are going crazy right now.
It's all right. Hey, look, I'm President.
I don't care.
I don't care anymore. I don't care.
-We definitely believe that you don't care.
[ Laughter ]
You're, by far, our most checked-out President.
[ Cheers and applause ]
I mean, James Garfield worked harder than you
after
[ Laughter ]
You watch more TV than a 6th-grader at home with the flu.
Trump watches so much TV, we're like a week away
from him tweeting about "The Price is Right."
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Now, obviously, we can't know exactly
how Trump would benefit from this bill,
since he still refuses to release his tax returns.
But we do know there are lots of changes
that would impact him directly.
For one thing, Republicans lowered
the top income-tax bracket.
There are also tax breaks for so-called
pass-through businesses, which includes the Trump organization.
There was even a last-minute provision added
that specifically extends a new tax break
for pass-through businesses to real-estate investors.
In fact, the bill has so many complicated
tax breaks and giveaways,
Republicans are trying to argue that average Americans
would benefit from those tax breaks
by really stretching the meaning of the word "average."
Take this tweet yesterday from Texas Senator John Cornyn.
Cornyn wrote...
Yeah, you know, that average American family
that has two kids, a house, a white picket fence,
corporate income, noncorporate business income,
three limited-liability corporations,
two S corporations, two C corporations,
a commercial real-estate venture,
a limited-liability partnership, carried interest,
oh, and a dog.
[ Laughter and applause ]
Average. You know, average.
In fact, this bill doesn't even deliver on the flimsy pretext
Republicans initially gave for their tax plan --
simplifying the tax code.
For example, the plan keeps seven different tax brackets
rather than the three Republicans initially proposed.
Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain
proposed his own tax-code simplification plan,
called the 9-9-9 plan, was asked about that failure
on Fox News and didn't seem too troubled.
-Your plan had 9-9-9.
This one still has seven brackets.
It may not be as simple as you wanted,
but is it a big win for Republicans?
-It's not 9-9-9-, but it's fine, fine, fine.
-Look how happy Herman Cain is.
He can't believe they set him up for a rhyme.
His public life is done.
Now he'll just disappear, never to be seen again.
No, Herman, don't go! What will we do without you?!
-Don't worry. You'll be fine, fine, fine.
[ Laughter ]
-And on top of everything else,
this bill also adds nearly $1.5 trillion to the deficit
after years of GOP hysteria about government spending,
and Republicans are already being very open
about the fact that they're going to use
the deficits they created as an excuse to cut
Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
under the guise of so-called welfare reform.
Last week, House Speaker Paul Ryan, a father of three,
was asked about paying for those programs
and said the problem wasn't that Republicans are giving away
billions to corporations and the wealthy
but that people aren't having enough babies.
-The great thing about tax reform coming right now
is we're gonna be able to create the kind of an economy
that produces good, family-supporting jobs,
higher wages that will be there for people
who are stuck in poverty and welfare to go to.
This is going to be the new economic challenge for America.
People.
Baby boomers are retiring.
I did my part, but we need
to have higher birth rates in this country.
-I'm sorry.
You know who might have something to say about that?
Your wife.
If I had turned to my wife right after my son was born
and said, "Well, I did my part,"
I'm pretty sure, she would've picked me up
and broken me over her knee like Bane.
[ Laughter and applause ]
It tells you everything you need to know about the Trump era
if this is how 2017 is ending,
with Republicans ransacking the country,
taking healthcare away from millions,
and then telling women that the solution is for them
to have more babies.
Working and middle-class people
overwhelmingly dislike this bill.
Meanwhile, corporations and the wealthy
are looking at it and saying it's...
-Fine, fine, fine.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]