As support for the GOP tax law plummets, Fox & Friends blames direct deposit

Grover Norquist: “A number of Americans are unaware they're keeping more money. ... 83 percent of Americans have direct deposit, so they never look at their paycheck”

From the July 25 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

Video file

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): I remember before the tax cut bill passed, the Democrats were saying that only the top one percent would benefit. But that doesn't look like the case. 

GROVER NORQUIST (AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM): No. That was what they said going into trying to stop the tax bill from passing. But within a month, the IRS came out with the numbers on what percentage of American taxpayers actually would get a pay increase, because a tax cut is a pay increase. When the government takes less of your money, you get more take-home pay. That's a pay hike. 90 percent of Americans pay lower taxes today because of the Republican tax cut. 90 percent of American taxpayers got a pay increase, meaning you get to take home more money because the government takes less of it. So, the difference between one percent and 90 percent, that's not a math problem. The Democrats were lying. They weren't just sort of off by a little bit. 

DOOCY: Right, yeah, but, Grover, don't you think people know that by now? We've got another graphic to show folks. A typical household, $26,000 over 10 years. A family of four get to keep close to $45,000 more of their money, which ultimately we all want to do. We want to give Washington less of it and keep more in our own pocket. But, as we go into the midterms, the Democrats' message is we want to take that back from you. I don't know that that's a politically wise thing to say out loud. 

NORQUIST: It's not. There is something interesting. Some polls suggest that a number of Americans are unaware that they're keeping more money. One of the reasons for that is 83 percent of Americans have direct deposit, so they never look at their paycheck, because their pay goes straight to the bank. And it's nice, you don't have to go to the bank and drop off your paycheck and cash it every two weeks. But, it pays to go take a look at your bank account, and we saw in May an increase in consumer spending, we think -- the economists think, because people looked at their bank account and said I've more money than I thought I did, and they made different decisions. So, people are noticing the higher pay, but it took longer than you'd expect because of direct deposit.

Related:

Politico: Poll: Support for GOP tax law erodes

Vox: The Republican tax law is becoming less popular, not more

Previously:

Fox panel panics over public disapproval of Trump's tax law: “Socialism is back, socialism is now acceptable”

Media keep calling the GOP's corporate tax bill a “win” for Trump

Fox is deceptively hyping GOP’s next tax bill that just benefits the ultra rich