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PolitiFact: Trump's tax plan benefits wealthy

Posted at 7:29 PM, May 20, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-20 20:29:01-04

Tax cuts will be a big issue in the presidential race. Wisconsin Democrats are claiming the riches of the rich will get more tax relief under Donald Trump's tax plan than a majority of all taxpayers.

The PolitiFact team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel breaks down the numbers in the Truth-O-Meter.
His tax plan caught the attention of state Senator Jennifer Shilling, a Hillary Clinton supporter.

"What Jennifer Shilling said is that Trump's tax plan really benefits the very rich much more than the average taxpayer," said Tom Kertscher with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Specifically the Wisconsin Democrat claimed under the Trump plan, "the top 0.1 percent of taxpayers -- people earning multiple millions of dollars a year, on average -- would get more tax relief than the bottom 60 percent of taxpayers combined."

"We would just note that the top 0.1% of taxpayers also pay more in income taxes that the bottom 60% do," said Kerscher.

Trump rolled out his tax plan last year. PolitiFact National found the wealthiest would get the most in tax cuts. The rate for the highest income earners would drop from 39.6% to 25%.

But who would get the most tax relief? The Journal Sentinel PolitiFact team ran the numbers with several non-partisan tax group and rated Shilling's statement: TRUE.

"Shilling statement was quite precise and the three organizations we checked confirm that the tax payers at the very top would benefit more than the 60% of taxpayers," said Kertscher