Trump administration officials use Sunday news shows to lie about GOP tax bills

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney appeared on Sunday news shows and lied about the effects of the House and Senate tax bills. In their current forms, the bills will raise taxes for many middle-income Americans, provide a tax break for wealthy Americans and corporations, and significantly increase the deficit.

On Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Fox News Sunday, Mnuchin mischaracterized the bill by claiming that “middle-income people are getting cuts, and rich people are getting very little cuts or in very certain cases increases.” In fact, under the Senate version of the bill, families earning less than $75,000 will see a tax increase while the wealthiest Americans and corporations will see rates go down and enjoy special carve outs, including a tax exemption for private jet management. Host Chris Wallace also pointed out that the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the bill that just passed the House of Representatives would give “80 percent of its cuts to corporations, businesses, and wealthy families.” From the November 19 edition of Fox News Sunday:

Similarly, on CNN’s State of the Union, Mulvaney falsely claimed that the Senate bill “absolutely [would] not” cost at least $1.5 trillion, in direct contradiction a number of studies that estimate the cost of the bill would be as high as $1.8 trillion. From the November 19 edition of State of the Union: