
MSNBC's Ali Velshi nails Republicans for lying and saying a tax cut for the ultra-rich is somehow for the middle-class when it's not.

Republicans insist that the estate tax repeal they are rolling out is somehow beneficial to middle-class Americans, but that is a complete lie.

Only .2 percent of estates in the entire country pay the estate tax. Repealing it only benefits multi-millionaires and billionaires. To claim otherwise is a total fabrication.

MSNBC's Ali Velshi used his program to poke holes in the Republican claim as they revealed the legislation that would mandate a giant handout to the families of billionaires in America.


"There aren't middle-class people in America who are ever exposed to the estate tax," Velshi said.

VELSHI: I just need this to stop being about the middle class. There aren't middle class people in America who are ever exposed to the estate tax. If you have one, if you find one, text us, tweet us @velshirule, or hit me up at @alivelshi. They are not there.

Republicans are very aware that the unpopular tax plan is seen by most Americans for what it is: a sop to the super-rich. Because Americans know this fact, and polling shows poor support for the bill because of it, they have circulated talking points insisting it helps the middle class.

They've even used Orwellian language to define "low- and middle-income" earners as those who bring in $450,000 a year. They have to make these logical leaps because the text of the legislation is concrete in its favoritism towards the top 1 percent of earners.

Those are the only people who would benefit from an estate tax cut, where billions that could be used to help and nurture the neediest of Americans would be handed away to the heirs of people with outrageous fortunes.

It is no coincidence that Ivanka Trump is pushing the bill – designed in secret by the Trump administration, Speaker Paul Ryan, and their allies in Congress. She would be a major beneficiary. One analysis showed that Ivanka, along with her siblings, would pocket an extra $4 billion if the bill passes.

No wonder Republicans aren't admitting who the bill is targeted to, and are instead making wild claims about how it would help the "middle class."

Journalists like Velshi have a responsibility to get the truth to their audience, and he has done just that by exposing this big lie. He shouldn't be alone.