Would Clinton Double Some People's Taxes?
During the third presidential debate on October 19, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said about Hillary Clinton's tax plan, "Her plan is going to raise taxes and even double your taxes." While individual circumstances may vary, this claim is wrong on the magnitude for high-income taxpayers and wrong on the sign for most taxpayers.
According to the Tax Policy Center, the Clinton tax plan would reduce taxes for the bottom four income quintiles (the bottom 80 percent). It would raise taxes on the top 20 percent, though no income group would see its taxes double on average. The largest increase would be on the top 0.1 percent of earners who would experience an increase in their taxes of one-fifth (increasing their average tax rate from 34.5 percent to 41.5 percent) in 2017. The percent increase would be similar in 2025.
Though Clinton's tax plan includes a sizable tax increase on high earners, it does not approach a doubling of taxes for any of those groups of earners affected. Therefore, we find Donald Trump's statement to be largely false.
