My assumption is that Trump will spend approximately half of his entire State of the Union Address stroking himself over the tax cuts he signed into law, but a new poll shows almost no one is benefiting from it right now.
Just 2 percent of Americans say they've benefited from the legislation.
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two percent of U.S. adults said they had gotten a raise, bonus or other additional benefits due to the Republican tax law enacted a month ago by President Donald Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday. [...]
About 58 percent of U.S. adults surveyed said that large U.S. corporations or wealthy Americans stand to benefit most from the tax legislation. Just 13 percent said the middle class will benefit the most, the poll showed.
It's true that the full implications and impact of the legislation won't show up until the filing deadline in 2019, but the meager bonuses for select employees that we see this year will probably be as good as it gets.
The added economic growth we see this year, if we see any at all, is expected to be the full extent of any benefits we'll see from the law. Even conservative studies estimated that the immediate stimulus of tax cuts will fade within a year.
Furthermore, for all the bonus announcements we've seen in recent weeks, we've also seen an equal or greater number of layoffs. Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, for example, announced that it would distribute a bonus for employees who've been with the company for 20 years, but they've also laid off over 13,000 employees.
I wouldn't expect to see a significantly higher number of Americans claim a benefit if this same poll is conducted next year.