Ten days before the election, Justin Trudeau pledged his government would introduce “as its very first bill in Parliament, a tax cut for the middle class.”

But strangely, Trudeau’s “middle class” tax cut doesn’t much benefit the middle class. The biggest tax cut goes to people earning $89,000 to $200,000.

And if those incomes don’t sound very middle class, it’s because, statistically, they’re not.

“The actual middle class is earning between $30,000 and $75,000,” says Guy Caron, the NDP’s Finance Critic, pointing to data showing 40% of Canadians income earners are in that range.

“Anyone under $45,000 will not earn a penny from this tax cut.”

Fact is, Trudeau’s tax cut is more Ralph Klein or Mike Harris than Tommy Douglas.

The Liberals plan to lower the tax rate on each dollar taxed in the second bracket, which ranges from $45,000 to $89,000. So someone earning $45,000 or less, who has no income taxed in that bracket, gets no tax cut. Someone at the top of the bracket – earning $89,000 – has $44,000 of income taxed in that bracket and gets the biggest tax cut.

But also, people in even higher tax brackets – earning $150,000, $200,000, $500,000 or higher – also have $44,000 of income taxed in the second bracket. These elite earners also get the maximum tax cut. However, with a proposed surtax on income over $200,000, the tax cut is fully clawed back at about $212,000.

So while even an income of $212,000 gets some tax cut under this “middle class” plan, the biggest tax cut goes to an income from $89,000 to $200,000.

“I don’t believe people are considering $89,000 to be middle class. Maybe upper middle class,” adds Caron, who worked as an economist prior to being elected MP in his eastern Quebec riding in 2011.

Now, if these facts surprise you, there’s good reason. Caron and other economists have often noted the biggest tax cut would go to incomes between $89,000 and $200,000.

But many media reports simply get it wrong, possibly by misunderstanding the tax bracket system. Media reports need to start getting their facts right.

And aside from skewed benefit of the tax cut, the NDP’s Caron points to another problem with the tax plan. The $3 billion cost of the tax cut was promised to be offset by $3 billion in revenue from a new bracket. That math now seems wishful.

“Most economists agree the estimate of getting $3 billion from that bracket over $200,000 will likely not reach $3 billion,” says Caron. Indeed, a C.D. Howe Institute report released last week states the new tax bracket may generate only $1 billion.

If it turns out the two tax measures aren’t revenue neutral, the cost of Trudeau’s tax cut gets thrown on top of years of corporate and boutique tax cuts – cuts that have closed veteran service offices, reduced health care transfers, raided the EI fund and de-regulated rail and food safety.

Every Canadian should want our new government to succeed. But that doesn’t mean having stars in our eyes about Justin Trudeau and his Liberals. The starry-eyed will justify this regressive tax cut, arguing it’s better than Stephen Harper. But partisan justifications aren’t enough for clear-eyed progressives. This tax plan goes the wrong direction.

Trudeau will implement this regressive change because it’s a campaign promise. But progressives need to show some muscle opposing it if we are to prevent any more of it.