How would Trump’s tax cuts affect different taxpayers?

If you'd like to take a break from the made-for-TV thrills of the Republican convention, TPC has prepared a series of bite-sized explanations of Donald Trump's tax plan. We'll be running them daily while the GOP is gathering in Cleveland. Next week, when Democrats are having their get-together in Philadelphia, TPC will do the same for Hillary Clinton.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's tax plan would cut taxes for households across the income spectrum, but the largest benefits—in both dollar and percentage terms—would go to the highest-income taxpayers. Those in the lowest income quintile would receive an average tax cut of roughly $130 (about a 1 percent boost in after-tax income) and middle-income households would get about $2,700 (a 5 percent increase in after-tax income). In contrast, the highest-income 1 percent would see their after-tax income go up by an average of over $275,000 (17.5 percent) and the top 0.1 percent would get an average of $1.3 million (19 percent of after-tax income).

Trump’s plan benefits low- and middle-income households by raising the standard deduction and lowering taxes rates. However, many of these households already pay little or no income tax and have little to gain from Trump's plan. In contrast, high-income households would greatly benefit from the plan's significant cuts in top individual and corporate income tax rates. Trump does propose some tax increases for high-income earners, such as limiting some itemized deductions and eliminating the tax break on carried interest, but his deep rate cuts would far outweigh those.  

Bottom line: Trump would cut taxes for households at all income levels but would give the biggest cuts to those at the top.