Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
The final Republican tax bill passed the House today, and is now moving to the Senate for a vote. President Trump has said he wants to sign the tax cut bill by Christmas.
While the effect of the bill varies person to person, economists say the effects multiply greatly statewide. To find out how, exactly, Take Two's Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Kevin Klowden, with the nonprofit Milken Institute in Santa Monica, and Chris Thornberg, with the LA-based consultancy Beacon Economics.
"Big winners are probably going to be the tech companies," Klowden said. "They're getting to see their corporate tax rate cut significantly. Even if a number of them were not paying 35 percent, they're using deductions to bring it down even further. They're definitely going to gain."
"Obviously the wealthiest Americans," Thornberg said. "The folks who own those tech companies and so much more of the equities in the United States. I like to say this is not policy. This is a pillage and payback, if you will. What you have is a tax plan that does lob a few hundred dollars at most Americans. But they do so on the basis of this enormous tax cut for the wealthiest among us and that in the context of an economy that is already seeing a record number of wealth and equality."