The Tax Law’s Big Winner Is the Millionaire CEO

By the time you read this, most Americans will have already filed their first returns under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month said a majority of them think the new law didn’t save them a dime, but they’re wrong: The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that average Americans saw a 1.8 percentage point reduction in their effective tax rate. The actual effect—an average savings of $1,610—was simply so slight and so spread out that they didn’t notice.

The rich noticed. The top 1 percent of income earners saved 2.3 percentage points, according to Urban-Brookings, or $51,140. The top 0.1 percent, who make more than $3.4 million a year, saved the same amount in percentage terms as the average Joe, but in dollar terms made out with $193,380.