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Hidden in the bill combining COVID relief and government spending is a cool $200 billion in tax breaks. An estimated $120 billion of those tax breaks will go to the richest 1 percent of Americans. 

Those giveaways include:

—A $2.5 billion break for racecar tracks

—A $6.3 billion write-off for business meals, i.e. the “three-martini lunch” deduction

—A new provision under the Paycheck Protection Program that allows forgiven loans to also be tax-deductible, giving businesses the ability to “double-dip” into the program

The bill also creates an independent commission to oversee horse racing, at the behest of Mitch McConnell. 

There’s no question about it: This pandemic has both revealed and exacerbated our already staggering economic inequality. 

Republicans didn’t blink twice when they handed out $6.3 billion in tax breaks to their wealthy corporate backers, but when it came to getting direct relief to struggling Americans $600 was the best they could do. Their priorities couldn’t be clearer.