Oh irony of ironies. How beautiful you can be!
Less than a week after Univision smeared the Trump tax cuts, the owner of that broadcasting network, Haim Saban, has announced that he will be giving $1000 bonuses to his employees due to those same tax cuts. In fact, as we shall see, Saban very specifically credited those same tax cuts as the reason for the bonuses. To get a full appreciation of the irony involved let us first look at what a Univision anchor said about the Trump tax cuts as reported by the MRC Latino Staff on January 27 in Univision Smears Trump Tax Cuts:
ARANTXA LOIZAGA, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: The states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, all governed by Democrats, announced today a lawsuit attempting to stop the tax reform put forth by President Trump. They state that the new law is designed to hurt states with Democratic majorities, and will cost its taxpayers billions of dollars.
Here is the MRC Latino Staff analysis of that report:
Univision has a long history of stuffing its newscasts with quick, 10-second takes on the issues with which there is a bias, and tax reform is no exception.
In channeling the network's antipathy towards taxpayers keeping more of their own money, Loizaga neglects to mention that this lawsuit is specifically over the caps on the SALT deduction, which limits the amount of state taxes that residents can claim on their federal tax return. Liberal states with high taxes such as the ones filing suit (as well as California or Illinois)- which Loizaga correctly states are mostly governed by Democrats- now stand to be held accountable by their residents.
Nowhere does the story mention that states are free to reduce the onerous burdens that they've imposed on their own residents. Furthermore, there is no mention of the fact that some of the residents of these states may offset the loss of their SALT deduction through the higher individual deduction.
Instead, Univision's viewers are left to deduce that the evil Trump wants to hurt them...racism via the tax code. Sadly, this is what happens when newscasts run policy analyses in 10-second blurbs. Once again, Univision's viewers are poorly served by their newscasts.
Less than a week later the God of Ironies struck back with this story in The Hollywood Reporter, Haim Saban's Company Pledges $1,000 Bonuses to Staff Due to Tax Cuts:
Media mogul Haim Saban on Friday became the latest to dole out $1,000 bonuses to employees in celebration of tax reform.
According to a letter to staffers at Saban Capital Group, which invests in entertainment and communications companies, Haim and his wife, Cheryl, were inspired by Disney's decision to award bonuses to its employees.
Before Disney, several companies including Comcast and Starbucks said they'd be handing out bonus checks (and Apple gave out stock bonuses) because of tax reform championed by President Donald Trump that reduces the rate paid by corporations to a maximum of 21 percent, down from 35 percent previously.
To put the icing on the irony cake, Saban wrote a personal note to his employees giving full credit for their bonuses to the Trump tax cuts:
To our valued team,
As you may know, at the end of 2017, the Federal Government enacted the most fundamental tax reform since 1986. These reforms are impacting our company in different ways, including a lower tax rate.
As a global investment firm, we recognize that our most important assets are every one of you – at Saban Capital, Real Estate, Films, Brands, Foundation and the Family Office.
We have been inspired by what Bob Iger has done for Disney employees. As the Hebrew saying goes “I shall learn from all my teachers” so we decided to follow suit.
Eligible employees will receive a one-time after-tax bonus of $1,000. We recognize and appreciate your hard work and dedication.
Thank you
Cheryl & Haim
