Wealthy Got Windfall From Lesser-Known Tax Break: ProPublica

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cut resulted in a large tax cut for privately held businesses, including several that had close ties to the White House, key senators and influential lobbyists, according to news outlet ProPublica.

Dick and Liz Uihlein of packaging giant Uline Inc., along with roofing magnate Diane Hendricks -- all of whom who were donors to Senator Ron Johnson’s 2016 re-election campaign -- received hundreds of millions in tax savings as a result of last-minute changes to the pass-through tax break that the Wisconsin Republican has said he helped revise, according to the ProPublica report.

ProPublica said that 82 taxpayers collectively walked away with more than $1 billion in total savings in 2018, the first year the tax deduction was available. Among those with large tax write-offs was Michael Bloomberg, who was able to cut his tax bill by $68 million that year, the news outlet reported.

(Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

The story is the latest from the investigative news outlet based on confidential tax data. ProPublica said the information was sent unsolicited to the news outlet by a source whose identity it doesn’t know.

The source of the disclosure is the subject of several federal investigations, including at the Treasury Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The pass-through tax deduction examined in the article -- a 20% tax break for private businesses ranging from mom-and-pop operations to large real estate developers -- was a key feature of Trump’s 2017 tax cut, which also included a large rate reduction for corporations.

The Senate adopted a budget resolution Wednesday that will advance the legislative path for Democrats to unwind much of the GOP tax law, which could include reductions to this tax break.

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