President Donald Trump is determined to pass tax reform, if for no other reason than it will give him a much-needed legislative victory more than seven months into his presidency.
Although Trump plans on pushing for tax reform in a Thursday speech at Springfield, Missouri, he isn't planning on offering many policy specifics in his address, according to The Washington Post. Instead, the speech — which will be authored by senior White House aide Stephen Miller — will use phrases like "Jump-start America" and "Win again," according to Politico. In order to read as populist rhetoric, the speech will focus on eliminating deductions for the wealthy, lowering rates for middle-class Americans and characterizing lower corporate tax rates as spurs for job creation.
One senior administration official told the Post that Trump's plan is to convince his supporters that "the economy is rigged — that it only benefits a very small [number of] wealthy and well-connected few . . . The president is going to really hammer on that."
That said, there is one possible challenge to Trump's ambitions — namely, the fact that many Republicans in Congress aren't sure they want to follow his lead.
In addition to the fact that there is no Republican consensus on how to advance this issue, the party's leaders in both congressional chambers are apparently planning on pursuing their own agendas instead of following the president's. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are each developing their own plans, which do not include Trump policy staples like a 15 percent corporate tax rate, according to Axios.
One concern is whether the tax cuts will increase the budget deficit. McConnell himself acknowledged the validity of this issue in response to a reporter's question last week, saying that "there’s some internal debate about that that we’ll have to sort out among ourselves."
By Matthew Rozsa
Matthew Rozsa is a professional writer whose work has appeared in multiple national media outlets since 2012 and exclusively at Salon since 2016. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012, was a guest on Fox Business in 2019, repeatedly warned of Trump's impending refusal to concede during the 2020 election, spoke at the Commonwealth Club of California in 2021, was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022 and appeared on NPR in 2023. His diverse interests are reflected in his interviews including: President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (1999-2001), animal scientist and autism activist Temple Grandin, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (1997-2001), director Jason Reitman ("The Front Runner"), inventor Ernő Rubik, comedian Bill Burr ("F Is for Family"), novelist James Patterson ("The President's Daughter"), epidemiologist Monica Gandhi, theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin, voice actor Rob Paulsen ("Animaniacs"), mRNA vaccine pioneer Katalin Karikó, philosopher of science Vinciane Despret, actor George Takei ("Star Trek"), climatologist Michael E. Mann, World War II historian Joshua Levine (consultant to "Dunkirk"), Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (2013-present), dog cognition researcher Alexandra Horowitz, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson (2012, 2016), comedian and writer Larry Charles ("Seinfeld"), seismologist John Vidale, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman (2000), Ambassador Michael McFaul (2012-2014), economist Richard Wolff, director Kevin Greutert ("Saw VI"), model Liskula Cohen, actor Rodger Bumpass ("SpongeBob Squarepants"), Senator John Hickenlooper (2021-present), Senator Martin Heinrich (2013-present), Egyptologist Richard Parkinson, Rep. Eric Swalwell (2013-present), Fox News host Tucker Carlson, actor R. J. Mitte ("Breaking Bad"), theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, biologist and genomics entrepreneur William Haseltine, comedian David Cross ("Scary Movie 2"), linguistics consultant Paul Frommer ("Avatar"), Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (2007-2015), computer engineer and Internet co-inventor Leonard Kleinrock and right-wing insurrectionist Roger Stone.
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