Speaking from Trump Tower Monday, Republican Presidential contender Donald Trump announced his “tax reform that will make America great again.” The announcement brings Donald Trump’s policy paper count up to a grand total of three.
Trump claims his plan accomplishes the following:
TAX REFORM THAT WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAINThe Goals Of Donald J. Trump’s Tax PlanToo few Americans are working, too many jobs have been shipped overseas, and too many middle class families cannot make ends meet. This tax plan directly meets these challenges with four simple goals:1. Tax relief for middle class Americans: In order to achieve the American dream, let people keep more money in their pockets and increase after-tax wages.2. Simplify the tax code to reduce the headaches Americans face in preparing their taxes and let everyone keep more of their money.3. Grow the American economy by discouraging corporate inversions, adding a huge number of new jobs, and making America globally competitive again.4. Doesn’t add to our debt and deficit, which are already too large.
Trump’s plan also eliminates the death tax completely.
Potentially problematic for Republicans, Trump’s plan calls for raising taxes on the wealthy, while reducing the tax rate to zero for others. The “tax the wealthy” rhetoric is typically reserved for Democrats and the Occupy movement. According to Politico:
Under a President Donald Trump, some Americans will pay no income tax and the corporate income tax will fall to 15 percent, while the Treasury Department will maintain or even increase current revenue.And while Trump emphasized the hit the rich would take under his tax plan unveiled Monday, he pairs the closing of loopholes and deductions with such a large rate reduction that it would likely add up to a substantial tax cut for many of the well-to-do.The tax plan “is going to cost me a fortune,” the billionaire candidate told a gathering of reporters at Trump Tower on Monday morning.“We have an amazing code. It will be simple, it will be easy, it will be fair,” he explained….”If you look at actually raise, some very wealthy are going to be raised. Some people that are getting unfair deductions are going to be raised,” Trump told Scott Pelley. “But overall it’s going to be a tremendous incentive to grow the economy and we’re going to take in the same or more money. And I think we’re going to have something that’s going to be spectacular.”Under Trump’s plan, the Republican candidate explained, “there will be a large segment of our country that will have a zero rate, a zero rate.”…Under the proposal, individuals making less than $25,000 and married couples making less than $50,000 will not have to pay taxes. The current highest income-tax rate—39.6 percent—would drop to 25 percent. Overall, the number of rates would decrease from the current seven to four, at 0, 10, 20 and 25 percent. While 36 percent of American households do not pay income tax currently, that share would jump to 50 percent.“My plan will bring sanity, common sense and simplification to our country’s catastrophic tax code,” Trump told the Journal. “It will create jobs and incentives of all kinds while simultaneously growing the economy.”
Meanwhile:
At a straw poll conducted at the Value Voters Summit, Trump slumped to 5%.
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