The Empire Strikes Back—With More Billionaire Tax Breaks (with Samantha Jacoby)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With Trump’s second major tax bill clearing committee and heading to the House floor—packed, as promised, with massive giveaways to the ultra-wealthy—we’re revisiting our timely conversation with Samantha Jacoby of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Originally recorded before Trump’s reelection, this episode breaks down the real impact of the tax bill that Trump signed into law back in 2017: trillions added to the deficit, corporations and billionaires cashing in, and working families left behind. Spoiler alert: the rich get richer, and everybody else gets screwed. As Congress considers doubling down on the same failed policies, this conversation couldn’t be more relevant. Samantha Jacoby is the Deputy Director of Federal Tax Policy with the Center’s Federal Fiscal Policy division. Samantha focuses on U.S. federal income tax issues, including corporate and business taxation, individual income taxation, and climate tax policy. ⁠This episode originally aired March 19, 2024.⁠ Social Media: ⁠@centeronbudget.bsky.social⁠ ⁠@jacsamoby⁠ ⁠@CenterOnBudget⁠ Further reading: ⁠Ten Questions on House Republicans’ Upcoming Tax Bill⁠ ⁠The 2017 Trump Tax Law Was Skewed to the Rich, Expensive, and Failed to Deliver on Its Promises⁠ Website: ⁠http://pitchforkeconomics.com⁠ Instagram: ⁠@pitchforkeconomics⁠ Threads: ⁠pitchforkeconomics⁠ Bluesky: ⁠@pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social⁠ Twitter: ⁠@PitchforkEcon⁠, ⁠@NickHanauer⁠, ⁠@civicaction⁠ YouTube: ⁠@pitchforkeconomics⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠Pitchfork Economics⁠ Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, pitchfork listeners, Goldie here. I'm recording this just after news broke that Trump's tax
0:06.7	bill has finally passed out of committee and will go to the floor of the House for a vote.
0:12.7	And of course, it includes one of his campaign promises, big tax cuts for the very wealthy.
0:19.2	So we thought this would be a good time to re-air an interview
0:23.8	we had with Samantha Jacoby last year on the true cost of Trump's tax plan. Just a heads up,
0:30.9	it was recorded before last year's tax season and, of course, before Trump was re-ed. Spoiler alert, the rich get richer and everybody
0:42.0	else gets screwed. The rising inequality and growing political instability that we see today
0:49.8	are the direct result of decades of bad economic theory.
0:54.6	The last five decades of trickle-down economics haven't worked.
0:58.3	But what's the alternative?
1:00.0	Middle-out economics is the answer.
1:02.1	Because the middle class is the source of growth, not its consequence.
1:06.9	That's right.
1:12.4	This is pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer, a podcast about how to build the economy from the middle out.
1:20.6	Welcome to the show.
1:33.1	It's tax season, Nick, and I like to get out ahead of it.
1:34.7	I did my taxes recently.
1:38.3	It took me, I don't know, maybe an hour.
1:43.4	Because unlike you, my taxes are relatively simple.
1:43.9	Yeah.
1:52.4	These days, you know, standard deduction, so I'm not itemizing W-2 because you employ me.
1:52.9	Yeah.
	...

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