Trump's tax cuts primarily benefit the uber-wealthy.
Politicians such as AOC and Elizabeth Warren are using the yacht as ammunition to argue why taxes should be raised on the uber-wealthy.
The counter-argument on the yacht story I have seen from the right can be summed up as this:
"I'm sure the workers who built the yacht are glad Dan Snyder had that $100 million. If the government would have taken that as tax revenue, those jobs would be lost. Do you want that to happen?"
Why is this not a convincing argument?
Not all income going to the very wealthy is spent
Wealthy people, by definition, do not spend all their income and wealth. If they did, they would no longer be wealthy. If the government taxes their income less, they may spend that extra income, but it's much more likely that income will just be a number on a bank computer.
Furthermore, if Republicans get their wish and eliminate inheritance taxes, this money could be sitting as a number on a computer somewhere for generations since 35-45 percent of all wealth is inherited.
The jobs that built this yacht were in The Netherlands, not the USA
I have nothing against free trade with a wonderful country such as The Netherlands (full disclosure: I was born there) but if the goal is to create American jobs, buying yachts built in another country is a poor way to accomplish that.
The assumption is that if all this money was taxed, it would go into some black hole labeled "government spending" and not stimulate the economy.
You'll get no argument from me that the government often wastes money (hello comically bloated military spending), but let's imagine for a moment this $100 million was taxed and then given out as SNAP benefits.
Studies have shown that SNAP benefits boost the economy more than any other of government spending. Each $1 generates $1.84 in GDP.
This makes sense as any money given to SNAP recipients is immediately spent. It can't be spent to buy a yacht from The Netherlands. it can’t be deposited into a bank account. It will be spent locally to support local jobs and very likely buying locally produced goods and services.
The real question is why do Republicans always want to cut SNAP benefits. Shouldn't they be the ones shouting this as loudly as possible?
"I'm sure the grocery store workers whose jobs those SNAP benefits support are glad people are receiving those benefits. If the government didn't give out those benefits, those jobs would be lost. Do you want that to happen?"