News / Politics

Trump used bait-and-switch tactics to sell GOP tax bill: Democratic lawmaker

Thursday, 28 December 2017 2:30 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 28 December 2017 2:44 AM ]

US President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he participates in a video teleconference call with military members on Christmas Eve in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 24, 2017.

Democratic lawmaker Gregory Meeks has labeled US President Donald Trump as a “con man” for his support of the newly-passed GOP tax bill.

New York Representative Meeks expressed concerns that the businessman-turned-president governs the country by using classic examples of bait-and-switch tactics, advertising a seemingly well-thought-out plan aimed at putting more money in the hands of Republican wealthy donors and stripping benefits from the average Americans.

““Eighty percent of the tax cuts that are coming is going to go to the richest one percent. So, yes, if you want to say you’re giving them a crumb, and that tax cut expires in ten years, whereas it does not expire for the major corporations of America. So there is a bait and switch. There is a bait-and-switch…with how this president has governed over the last year. He baits and then switches. He says one thing and there’s really a different result,” he told CNN on Wednesday.

“I’ve said all along that this president is a con man…he gives you something that might sound sweet, but you know it’s gonna be bitter in the end... You’ve got to pay extra attention to what he does because he’s a bait-and-switch con man,” Meeks said.

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“Eighty percent of the tax cuts that [are] coming is going to go to the richest one percent. And that tax cut expires in ten years, whereas it does not expire for the major corporations,” he continued.

The Joint Committee on Taxation said last week that the tax bill won’t fully pay for itself through economic growth and would cost $1.07 trillion over the next 10 years.

Multiple polls show that the GOP tax bill is unpopular among the US public, but Trump has defended the bill, claiming “insider polls” show support for the bill is “strong.”

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The tax reform sees the top rate of income tax drop from 39.6 percent to 37 percent, a move that is expected to intensify criticism that renders it as overly generous to the wealthy and big business.

Democrats and tax experts say wealthy business owners, including Trump himself, stand to gain from a provision in the Republican tax bill that creates a valuable deduction for owners of pass-through businesses.

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