The latest tax plan from U.S. Senate leaders is heavily skewed toward the wealthiest people and corporations, even more so than the earlier Senate proposal. The bill would raise taxes for hundreds of thousands of low and middle-income earners in Louisiana, while substantially cutting taxes for those who earn the most.
It would be especially bad for Louisianans. An analysis by the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that the bottom 60 percent of income earners in Louisiana would see an average tax increase of $190 per year by 2027, while the richest 1 percent in the state would see an average reduction in their tax bill of $5,320. The ITEP analysis also reveals that Louisiana would be one of 19 states that collectively will pay more to the federal government in 2027 than they would pay if Congress did nothing.
“The Senate tax plan is a bad deal for the country and a bad deal for Louisiana. Like the House Republican tax plan, the tax cuts the Senate has proposed for the wealthiest among us would cause federal deficits to increase significantly,” said Jan Moller, Director of the Louisiana Budget Project. “This would set the stage for massive cuts to federal programs and services that serve seniors, veterans, children and people with disabilities. That is simply unacceptable.”
“What’s more, Senate leaders have decided to use the tax plan to undermine health care reform, which would raise premiums and and jeopardize the care that millions of Americans receive under the false guise of ‘reforming’ our country’s tax code,” Moller said.
The Center for American Progress estimates that 197,000 fewer Louisianans would have coverage by 2025 and the average Louisiana household would see its premium increase by $1,900 next year if the individual mandate is repealed. A coalition of 16 leading patient groups, including March of Dimes, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, calls the bill “a step backwards for individuals and families.”
Additional analyses and resources regarding the Senate tax plan:
National analysis from the Tax Policy Center of how the Senate tax bill would affect people in different income groups
National Priorities Project 50-state analysis of what else the Senate bill’s tax cut for the richest 1 percent could buy
CBPP interactive map with state-level data on impact of revised Senate bill including total tax cut for the top 1 percent by state and number of estates that will benefit from estate tax cut
CBO analysis and Vox article on how Senate tax plan would trigger $25 billion in Medicare cuts in additional cuts to other mandatory spending
CBPP’s Chuck Marr’s blog about how the Senate chose to make corporate tax cuts permanent while letting tax cuts for individuals expire in 2025
CBPP analysis of the Senate tax bill’s Child Tax Credit increase including the the number of children in each state (194,000 in Louisiana) who would receive only token help from the change