Trump's tax plan gets fuzzier and fuzzier
As presidential campaigns grind on, we often learn more details about each candidate鈥檚 policy agenda. But when it comes to Donald Trump鈥檚 tax plan, we know far less today than we did 10 months ago.
Last September, Trump unveiled a聽. Today, that鈥檚 effectively been replaced by聽only four of which are even remotely informative. Back in the day, when Soviet-era Russian apparatchiks fell out of favor, they鈥檇 become non-persons and even be removed from old group photos. That鈥檚 what鈥檚 happened to Trump鈥檚 tax plan from last September. It has been deleted from his website, photoshopped into oblivion. It is as if it never existed.
Even more perplexing is his relationship with the tax聽聽developed in June by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and his caucus.
Last week Trump campaign officials put out the word that he was willing to build a new tax plan around that House GOP 聽proposal. But yesterday, the campaign operatives who engineered that rapprochement were effectively purged. And the campaign鈥檚 new CEO, Breitbart Media Chairman Stephen K. Bannon, is a sharp critic of Ryan, whom he聽聽in a聽Washington Post聽interview as having been 鈥済rown in a petri dish at the Heritage Foundation.鈥�
One can only wonder if the new Trump will be as enthusiastic about working with Ryan as last week鈥檚 version. 聽And if not, as seems likely, just what is the current Trump tax plan? 聽
We knew pretty well what the old one looked like. Like most candidate plans, Trump鈥檚 September 2015 blueprint left out lots of details. Still, it provided enough information for the Tax Policy Center and others to聽and for voters to get a pretty good sense of Trump鈥檚 tax agenda. 聽
It told us he鈥檇 set four individual tax rates (0-10-20-25 percent) and defined the brackets. It proposed a generous new standard deduction, said he鈥檇 repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax and the estate tax, and that he鈥檇 tax investment income at 20 percent. Finally he said he鈥檇 cap the value of individual deductions, though he did not say how.
Trump also told us businesses would pay a 15 percent rate. He promised to end deferral of U.S. tax on business income earned abroad but retain the foreign tax credit and impose a one-time 10 percent tax on current unrepatriated corporate earnings. Less specifically, he promised to 鈥渞educe or eliminate some corporate loopholes鈥� and cap the deductibility of business interest expense.
What do we have now? To use a technical tax term: bupkes.
This is about all I could find about taxes on Trump鈥檚 campaign website.
Tax reform鈥�
- Simplify taxes for everyone and streamline deductions. Biggest tax reform since Reagan.
- Lower taxes for everyone, making raising a family more affordable for working families.
- Reduce dramatically the income tax.
- We will simplify the income tax from 7 brackets to 3 brackets.
- Exclude childcare expenses from taxation.
- Limit taxation of business income to 15% for every business.
- Make our corporate tax globally competitive and the United States the most attractive place to invest in the world.
- End the death tax.
This page describes only one of these proposals, the new childcare subsidy. It says this:
鈥淭he child care exclusion will be an above-the-line deduction. Capped at the amount of average care costs in state of residence for age of child. Low-income taxpayers able to take deduction against payroll tax. The plan is structured to benefit working and middle class families, and more detail will be rolled out soon after the plans other elements.鈥�
Anything else?
罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚听聽defined his three individual tax rates at 12-25-33 percent. 聽He also supported the House GOP plan to allow firms to immediately expense the cost of capital investments. While his original plan would have capped the deduction for interest expense, he has been silent on whether he鈥檇 now end that deduction鈥攁 necessary step to limiting tax sheltering when firms are allowed full expensing of their investments.
Where does this leave voters? 聽We could assume that, except for individual rate changes, the childcare subsidy, and expensing, the rest of Trump鈥檚 plan remains intact. But we don鈥檛 know, and we shouldn鈥檛 have to guess. 聽聽
Last week, the Trump campaign promised it would provide more details about its tax plan, but did not say when. TPC has asked the campaign to clarify his plan, as it does with all candidate proposals. I鈥檒l let you know if we learn more.
For months, two well-known conservatives, Steve Moore and Lawrence Kudlow, have been working on what they describe as a revised Trump tax plan. Trump recently named Moore a formal economic adviser to the campaign.
Yet, all those promises of a new plan all remain unfulfilled. And voters are left knowing almost nothing about what a President Trump would really do about taxes.
This article first聽
