INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE-POLS 103

The Trump Tax Law in the US

The Trump Tax Bill passed into law up and remains relevant up to 2025 is disadvantageous to the poor in the US and propagates income inequality. The rich are the top earners through monetary gains of about 20% of the aggregate cuts, despite the few numbers. Consequently, the nation is at risk of inequality problems that affect not only the poor but also the rich. The paper focuses on the trump bill, connects it to income inequality, and draws facts from the theory on interest groups. It will explore how social groups should be the way to influence political action, reduce inequality, and reduce the risk of adverse economic, health, and social outcomes in the nation. Therefore, the trump tax bill is unfair and an infringement on the realization of the American dream as well as democracy.

The 2017 Trump Tax Bill- Garza v. Idaho – 139 S. Ct. 738 (2019)

Garza v. Idaho – 139 S. Ct. 738 (2019) is a good example of inequality in the access to justice, as evident in the treatment of Gilberto Garza in the state of Idaho. The court ruled about the waiver of appeal that made the plaintiff fail to benefit from his rights and the American dream of democracy. The Supreme Court made it clear that the lack of appropriate advice to clients in court shall result in the implication of the law (Vile, 403). Thus, the ruling recreates the American dream towards access to justice. 

The American nation has had a history of income inequality that dates back to the 1966 court case of Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, which eliminated poll taxes for American citizens. The inequality is present in the political, economic, and social stances. For example, court outcomes in the past five decades show that rulings favor the well-off in contrast to the poor. The instance links to the 19th-century case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which enacted social divisions in the education sector. The favoritism in the court ruling reflects the income inequality and the democracy of all citizens within the American nation. President Obama presented Obama care as a subsidy to reduce the gaps in access to medicine and improve the experiences of the low earners (Cohen, paragraph 8). Nonetheless, the Trump Act of 2017 focused on bringing down Obama care and directing tax cuts rather than giving subsidies. 

The 2017 Trump tax bill became law through the vote of the GOP and is legitimate up to 2025. The pro of the bill is that the government focuses on cutting after-income taxes to poor persons by approximately $1000. On the other hand, the cons of the Trump tax law related to the variables that affect the poor in the nation. In detail, the tax cuts propagate income inequality as the rich shall receive about 20% of the aggregate tax cuts. Furthermore, payment of school fees in high-end institutions should follow the 529 plan, which is an upside for the rich. The bill enables the rich to evade tax through donations and involvement in charity. Most importantly, the bill should eliminate the AMT that affects the top earners in the nation. The tax bill avoids the inclusion of propagation tax directly proportional to an increase in wealth. It makes it impossible for the nation to reduce the income gap and improve on the American dream (Huang, paragraph 3). Therefore, the beneficiaries of the 2017 Tax bill by Trump are the richest in America and tends to favor the political class only. 

Theme: Income Inequality and American Democracy

Income inequality is not an economic problem as high-income nations like USA and Norway have little difference in life expectancy as compared to low earners such as Portugal. The Gross National Product shows a non-correlation to life expectancy. However, income inequality is a social problem that requires political initiatives. The impact of inequality affects the rich in the same manner as the poor. The social outcomes include child conflicts as learning declines overboard. According to Wilkinson in TED, nations with high inequality are susceptible to high rates of homicide and reduced values. In the sense that people fail to enjoy social capital that includes the shared values that encourage community involvement and interaction. 

Moreover, income inequality leads to an aggregate health problem that affects the poor and rich. For example, it deteriorates the drug abuse cases rampant among all persons regardless of their background. It also reduces life expectancy for all persons that coincide with the quality of life in a nation. Wilkinson adds that mental illness increases as income increases because problems such as social stigmatization or the fear of the same are detrimental to psychotic health. Besides, obesity increases with incremental inequality in society and affects persons from all backgrounds. 

In addition, inequality affects human capital. It reduces the well-being of children in terms of health, physical, social, and psychological welfare. Accordingly, it leads to increased school dropouts, especially among children in high school. We learned that nations with high levels of inequality have high levels of illiteracy. Wilkinson also believes that nations with inequality have low social mobility, whereby persons from rich families have no guarantee of becoming wealthy. Therefore, inequality leads to increased teenage births that contradict the population control initiatives. 

Fonger, through the Public Citizen new, argued that the inequality in the US defies the American dream that provides fairness in achieving success, regardless of social origin or status. It is difficult for the poor in America to gain economic freedom as taxes lead to extra debt, few chances of fairness in court, and improved living standards to align with accessible health care. Accordingly, inequality threatens democracy as the rich influence the decisions of the legislature and the judiciary. 

Class Chapter 10: Interest Groups

The problem of income inequality relates to interest groups in American politics. The status quo reflects in the spending of lobbyists hired by American corporations to lead the cut of business taxes. We learned that interests groups are tightly organized, are policy specialists and can influence the outcome of elections. For example, Charter Communications, Nike, and FedEx spent over 100 million funding representatives and campaign contributions in 2020 to influence national policies. The involvement means that businesses as interest groups affect the manner that political parties operate through funding and the policies they adopt during campaigns (Fonger, paragraphs 1-3). Ideally, politicians depend on American businesses since individual contributors have a limit of about $2500 in donations for a single election. 

Nevertheless, the history of America shows that interest groups can improve living conditions and it involved educating the public, agenda setting and program monitoring. An example is the women’s movement of the 1960s that focused on improving gender equality. The civil movements ensured the relevance of the African Americans and minority groups courtesy of participation in democratic activities and fairness in the judicial system. Income inequality might be achieved in the US through social movements made up of the minority, as inequality exists in the representation of all persons at the highest ranks in the social hierarchy (Bardes et al., 179). Additionally, trade unions may improve on progressive taxation that should enhance the earnings of the poor and increase tax for the rich. So, apart from justice, we learned that interest groups plays significant role in promoting equality, public interest, economic interest, and professional associations.

Ideally, the US can invoke different approaches to income inequality, such as in the case of Japan and Sweden. The former has minute differences in earnings before tax that reduces inequality, whereas the latter has high differences in income but reduces inequality through taxation, subsidies, and national welfare. Wilkinson made us understand that the US may opt to focus on progressive taxation and enhance incentives as a means to reduce inequality. He believes it may reduce the earnings of the noble and enhance the national income.

Conclusively, the current issue of taxation law, as influenced by former President Trump, benefits the rich compared to the poor. Correspondingly, it deteriorates the income inequality that creates social problems for the aggregate population. Inequality makes it impossible for citizens to attain the American dream and benefit from democratic engagements through reduced social mobility, capital, and poor living standards. The inequality problem emanates from the prioritization of interest groups, particularly the business sector, at the expense of the inhabitants. However, the politics of interest groups may be the remedy to the American problem of inequality as workers and minority groups may join to influence the policies that affect wellbeing, democracy, and values within society. Lastly, the interest groups through lobbying have helped the Americans to advance their political, social and economic goals by embracing equality and democracy.

Works Cited

Bardes, Barbara et al. American Government & Politics Today: Essentials: 2017-2018. 1st ed., Cengage Learning, 2016, pp. 179-200.

Cohen, Adam. “Supreme Inequality” Washingtonpost.Com, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/08/high-court-has-been-siding-with-rich-against-poor-since-nixon/.

Fonger, Josephine. “Corporations Are Spending Millions On Lobbying To Avoid Taxes”. Citizen.Org, 2021, https://www.citizen.org/news/corporations-are-spending-millions-on-lobbying-to-avoid-taxes/

Huang, Chye-Ching. “Fundamentally Flawed 2017 Tax Law Largely Leaves Low- And Moderate-Income Americans Behind”. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2019, https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/fundamentally-flawed-2017-tax-law-largely-leaves-low-and-moderate-income.

Vile, John R. Essential Supreme Court Decisions. 1st Ed., Rowman & Littlefield, 2022, p. 403.

Wilkinson, Richard. “How Economic Inequality Harms Societies”. Ted.Com, 2011,