President Donald Trump and his Republican partners in a nearly $6 trillion tax-cutting plan insist it would benefit middle-class Americans and not the wealthy. But a key provision would slash tax rates for a special kind of business set up by owners of profitable firms, including Trump and his family.
The GOP tax blueprint would cut rates for businesses whose profits are taxed at the owners’ personal income rate, with proponents casting it as tax relief for small business. Known as “pass-through” companies because their profits are pipelined into the owner’s personal tax bucket, those businesses span a huge range, from the local florist and family-owned restaurant to law firms, hedge funds and privately held large corporations such as real estate companies—and Trump’s own property empire.
Instead of paying the current top rate of 39.6%, owners of these businesses would be taxed at 25% under the GOP plan. That would deliver a substantial windfall to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who have reported holding stakes in more than 200 limited liability companies.
