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Donald Trump’s Tax Plan–Playing to Win

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Photo by Jamelle Bouie

Photo by Jamelle Bouie

Democrats have no interest in working with Donald Trump “to harmonize, simplify and reduce” tax rates for corporations as well as individuals. Knowing this, President Trump, understanding that it will take a united GOP to get it passed, is pitching his tax proposal squarely at Republicans.

President Trump has “dramatically raised the stakes by laying out a giant challenge to his congressional allies,” writes Kimberley A. Strassel in the WSJ. “All eyes are on the Freedom Caucuses, the Tuesday Groups, the Ted Cruzes and Tom Cottons —all those who helped kill the health-care bill. If they fail to deliver this time, if they descend into bickering over deficits or state tax deductions, they will lose their majorities. It’s as simple as that.”

The president’s tax proposal—a big, swashbuckling vision for enacting pro-growth principles—offends many on the left by its very nature. Within a few minutes of its release, liberal economists, politicians and pundits were ripping it as a payoff to the wealthy, a deficit buster, regressive, unrealistic. That alone is proof Mr. Trump is getting the policy right.

As Ms. Strassel points out, the NYT, in a news article–not an editorial, — described Mr. Trump’s tax plan as “aiding the wealthy, “a radical reordering of the tax code,” and “less a plan than a wish list.” The tax plan, which would “richly benefit Mr. Trump personally,” was “rushed” to show progress before the 100th day of his presidency.

Yet what Mr. Trump may be doing best is the politics of tax reform. The president’s proposal marks not only a triumph of ideas, but also a savvy acknowledgment of the Washington landscape.

The president has dramatically raised the stakes by laying out a giant challenge to his congressional allies. All eyes are on the Freedom Caucuses, the Tuesday Groups, the Ted Cruzes and Tom Cottons —all those who helped kill the health-care bill. If they fail to deliver this time, if they descend into bickering over deficits or state tax deductions, they will lose their majorities. It’s as simple as that.

This time, Ms. Strassel writes, Donald Trump is playing to win.

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Debbie Young

Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, and practicing yoga.