By: Team Sherrod

On Friday, Wells Fargo was fined $1 billion for the bank’s latest malpractice: Wells Fargo had unfairly charged thousands of customers for unnecessary auto insurance and mortgage borrowing fees.

But thanks to the GOP’s tax scam, Wells Fargo will make nearly four times what they’ve just been charged.

Since Republicans first introduced their tax bill, they’ve claimed it will help the middle class. As Sherrod correctly predicted, nearly all of the bill’s benefits continue to go to Wall Street and the wealthiest 1%, not working families. Wells Fargo making $3.7 billion from the tax bill—despite the bank’s history of scamming consumers—is just the latest example of Republicans looking out for the wealthy, not hardworking Americans.

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Vox: Wells Fargo just got fined $1 billion. Republicans cut its taxes by $3.7 billion.

Emily Stewart – April 21, 2018

Key points:

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Wells Fargo $1 billion for improperly charging thousands of customers for auto insurance they didn’t need. This is the first major enforcement action since Mick Mulvaney took over as acting director in November.
• But it turns out Wells Fargo won’t see much of a difference in profits: The bank is expected to make $3.7 billion from the Republican tax bill this year, which is nearly four times what the CFPB fined them.
• The bank has faced numerous penalties in recent years for bad behavior and practices. A foreign-exchange trade dispute and recommendations made by its wealth division are still under scrutiny. In September 2016, it was fined $185 million for issuing millions of fake credit card accounts.
• Luckily for Wells Fargo, the Republican tax bill, passed in December, slashed the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent and is a big boost to corporate America and the wealthy. The bill has been good for all the major banks—the AP recently reported that the six biggest banks in the U.S. saved $3.6 billion in the first quarter.
• Although Wells Fargo has wronged its customers time and time again, it has consistently managed to come out ahead.

Read more here.