November 2017
Messaging Against the Trump-Republican Tax Plan
Global Strategy Group and Hart Research Associates conducted an online survey from October 17-25,
2017 among 1,561 likely 2018 voters across 15 US Senate battleground states.
Our survey found that voters in these states, despite being generally conservative and Republican-leaning,
are receptive to our messaging against the Trump/GOP tax plan. Battleground voters have heard little
about the tax plan, providing us with an opportunity to fill in the gaps. The more voters hear about the
plan, the more likely they are to oppose it.
Additionally, voters object to tax cuts when they hear that the wealthiest Americans will get a bigger
tax cut than they will.
The Key Takeaway - Our Message in :30
The Trump-Republican tax plan delivers a huge tax cut to the richest 1% and wealthy corporations, funded
by raising taxes on middle class families and slashing funding for Medicare, Medicaid, and education. It’s
wrong to give special breaks to the wealthy and powerful at the expense of average Americans.
Talking Points
The plan benefits the richest 1% and wealthy corporations.
• The plan gives one-half of the tax breaks to the richest 1% of Americans.
• The plan gives a trillion-dollar tax cut to wealthy corporations and business owners – twice as much
as it gives to individual taxpayers.
• The Republican plan claims to cut taxes on small businesses. What it really does is create a special low
tax rate for lobbyists, corporate lawyers, and other wealthy business owners, while excluding people
who work for a salary or hourly wage from this new rate.
• The plan slashes taxes on profits that corporations earn offshore, while taxing profits earned here at
a much higher rate. This will encourage corporations to send even more jobs and profits offshore.
• Not one penny in tax cuts should go to the rich and corporations, which will only make the system
more unbalanced in their favor.
The plan cuts trillions of dollars in funding for Medicare, Medicaid, education, and other vital services.
• The tax cuts for the wealthy are funded in part by deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, public education,
and job training that will be devastating to seniors and working families.
• The plan cuts Medicare by $500 billion and slashes Medicaid by $1 trillion.
The plan raises taxes on everyday people.
• The plan raises taxes on millions of people who can least afford it, including seniors on fixed incomes
and people in the lowest income tax bracket.
• The plan eliminates the $4,000 personal exemption that every taxpayer can take for themselves, their
spouse, and each dependent child.
• Americans will no longer be able to deduct most of their state and local taxes on their federal return.
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DON’T SAY DO SAY
Tax reform
Tax cuts
Tax plan
Republicans are trying to push through a tax
plan along partisan lines and behind closed
doors
Republicans in Congress are trying to push through a
tax plan that will hurt everyday people
The plan lowers the top individual tax rate,
eliminates the Alternative Minimum Tax,
eliminates the estate tax, and cuts the
corporate tax rate
The plan gives half of the total tax cut to the
wealthiest 1% of taxpayers
The plan gives tax cuts to the wealthy
The plan gives tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires
The plan gives tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans
The plan gives a tax cut to small businesses
The plan’s small business tax cut is fake. It actually
creates a special low tax rate for the richest 1% of
businesses, allowing lobbyists, corporate lawyers, and
wealthy business owners to pay a special new rate
that working people aren’t eligible for
Corporations don’t pay their fair share
Wealthy corporations don’t pay their fair share
Make the wealthy and corporations pay
more in taxes
Make sure the wealthy and corporations pay their fair
share in taxes
The plan repeals the estate tax
The plan repeals the estate tax on inheritances over
$11 million
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How to connect the tax plan to jobs and the economy
Tax cuts for the rich and corporations will hurt the economy and cost jobs by causing big cuts to
education, health care, infrastructure, and other critical investments. We can create far more jobs and
help the economy more by making sure the rich and corporations pay their fair share in taxes and investing
in programs like education, health care, and infrastructure that benefit working families.
Huge tax cuts for the rich and corporations do not pay for themselves. History shows that they just
increase the deficit while the rich get richer and wealthy corporations get more profitable.
The plan gives a massive tax cut to corporations when they are already making record profits but paying
record low taxes. Corporations don’t need special new tax breaks when many are already paying little to
nothing in taxes because of tax loopholes.
Lowering taxes on corporations will just benefit CEOs and wealthy shareholders, not workers. This plan
has no protections to ensure that profits will be used to create good jobs or raise workers’ pay.
Independent experts agree that most of the corporate tax cuts will go to wealthy stockholders and CEOs
rather than workers or new investment.
