Tax cut impact split along racial and gender lines

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act had an unequal impact on Americans’ paychecks, depending on the taxpayer’s race and gender, according to a new survey.

As a result of the new tax law, the U.S. Treasury estimated that 90 percent of Americans would receive more take-home pay. A survey by the financial website LendEDU found the average increase was $130.76 per month. The company polled 1,000 Americans who reported their take-home paychecks had increased as a result of the tax plan changes. They reported an average increase in take-home pay of 3.5 percent.

However, the site also found the impact varied among different demographic groups in its sample. Black survey respondents, despite estimating the highest take-home pay increase by percent, had the lowest average take-home pay increase by dollars at $105.19. Female respondents reported an average take-home pay increase of $129.36, $14.98 more than male respondents ($114.28)

Across each race (Asian, Black, Hispanic, White), women reported a higher average take-home pay increase by dollars compared to their male counterparts. Asian women reported an increase of $165.52, while Asian men saw a bump of just $72.56. Black female respondents reported the highest average take-home pay increase by percent at 4.26 percent, while black male respondents reported the lowest at 2.83 percent.

Asian and white respondents most strongly indicated their sentiment towards President Trump has improved in a positive way. Each race had a strong contingent of respondents who had an unchanged sentiment toward Trump, while very few had a more negative sentiment.