You have to give President Donald Trump this: The guy knows branding. This became apparent Wednesday after a senior administration official told ABC News that Trump wanted to call his signature tax reform "The Cut Cut Cut Act."
There could not have been a more appropriate name for Trump to choose. The bill, scheduled to be released Thursday, proposes the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades, including large tax cuts for the wealthy.
Internal White House polling showed that the public responded more favorably to language that emphasizes tax cuts as opposed to tax reform, a senior White House official told ABC News.
The Ways and Means committee debated the rollout of the bill, as Republicans drafting the legislation debated over controversial provisions, including the possible elimination of 401(k) accounts and the state and local tax deduction.
Although the president and the GOP have already tried to pass significant legislation in the form of Obamacare repeal, Trump has yet to take on a bill that he was enthusiastic about. Trump displayed little interest in the various iterations of the GOP's health care plan, but now that they are trying to cut taxes, the process has his undivided attention. Trump has apparently also stood firm on the "Cut Cut Cut Act" name request, ABC news reported.
A week after the election, when Trump made his first public appearance at a New York steakhouse, the then-president elect assured patrons at the restaurant, "We're going to get your taxes down."
Trump and the Republican Party have not agreed on everything during his short tenure as president, but both desperately want to cut taxes. Despite their determination, the reform they have proposed has received little support from the American people.
In a new NBC/WSJ poll, 25 percent of respondents called Trump’s tax plan a good idea, while 35 percent called it a bad idea. Nearly four-in-10 Americans did not have an opinion at all. The legislation's unpopularity roughly compares to that of former President George W. Bush's failed effort to partially privatize Social Security, according to NBC.
As Republicans try to hash out the final details of the tax bill, one thing is clear in the eyes of GOP members:
“At the end of the day this will be known as the ‘Trump tax cuts,’” a senior Hill aide told ABC News. Or maybe it should be known as the Trump Tax cut cut cut.
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