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Article snippet: President Trump and Republican leaders released their long-awaited tax plan on Wednesday, offering several misleading and false claims to bolster their framework for the overhaul. Here’s an assessment. The lack of details in the plan make it difficult to estimate how the cuts would be distributed across income levels, but Mr. Trump and the wealthy would “almost certainly benefit,” said Roberton Williams, an analyst at the Tax Policy Center. The Republican framework would eliminate the “death tax,” which applies to estates valued over $5.49 million in 2017. Mr. Trump has an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion. He might not personally see a tax break from the repeal, Mr. Williams said, because “he’ll be dead. But his heirs will.” The new plan also would repeal the alternative minimum tax, a parallel system of taxation that currently ensures that those who take deductions and try to exploit loopholes pay a minimum amount; it largely impacts people making between $200,000 and $1 million. Without this tax, Mr. Trump would have paid $31 million less in taxes in 2005, according to his tax return that year, which was disclosed on the “Rachel Maddow Show” in March. Reducing the top marginal income tax rate to 35 percent from 39.6 percent would also benefit the wealthy, though the plan does not specify which income levels it would affect. Mr. Trump accurately said that the plan gives Congress leeway to raise the top rate. Scott Greenberg, of the conservative Tax Foundatio... Link to the full article to read more