Trump's Tax Plan

philibusters

Active Member
So I was disappointed in the Tax Plan. I had eagerly awaited the Wednesday announcement even shifting my TSP money into the C fund earlier in the week figuring the market would go bonkers when he released his plan.

Then the plan came out the S&P 500 lost about 8 points and the media downplayed the tax plan (with good reason). Trump's tax plan consisted of one page of bullets. The tax plan was very similar to the Tax Plan he had during the campaign. For somebody like myself I cannot tell if the tax plan will make me pay more or less taxes. The market also reacted negatively to the release because they realized the announcement was a dog and pony show and that it won't be until July or August that we can the details of the plan that will give people an idea of the future of taxation in the country.

Trump's plan was pretty generous, but it was so generous it cannot possibly pass in its current form, which means some of it will get watered down. However since we don't know what his priorities are because the plan was so basic (a page of bulletpoints), we have no idea what will end up staying or what will get the axe.

It feels Trump released the "plan" simply because he wanted to make good on a campaign process to start tax reform within his first 100 days. And by all means he does intend to follow through with it, but its going to take him longer than he originally thought. Which to me is understandable. But what I don't get is the dog and pony show of Wednesday. I had gotten all excited about the release only to find out we only getting a promo of the tax plan, we have to wait another four or so months to actually find out the details.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
I don't know or see enough of it - I've only seen bulleted points.

I read an article this morning hinting that - since it doesn't precisely resemble the one he pitched months ago, it is the first volley in a set of back and forth, to be negotiated.

What I've noticed over the years is, federal receipts from taxes usually don't change much based on tax cuts and adjustments - when I've looked at historical tables, what I see is they fall a bit due to the economy - but not because someone cut taxes.
You'd THINK that when someone slashes taxes, receipts would plummet - but they don't. The few times I see them drop, we had a recession.

I'm skeptical of ANY outcome that is based on "this will make the economy good and the receipts will come in higher". Kind of pie in the sky. Well, my life sure don't work that way.
But I've seen there are some details that may well spur business to bring it on home. And 15% might get pushed back to 20.

HAVE to admit - I really thought this was the time for the FAIR Tax. I'm not an economist, but I have to wonder how much better it might be to tax what we spend and not what we earn.
 

philibusters

Active Member
I don't know or see enough of it - I've only seen bulleted points.

I think you missed my point. Its not the substance of the tax plan that disappointed me. Its that all he released Wednesday after a big build up with a one page document that had bulleted point. Its the type of document you release when campaigning, but its not a real plan with details. In fact its similar to the release he did with campaigning.

In other words he wanted to be able to say he has at least started on tax reform in the first 100 days so he released something that really didn't give us any more direction than what he released during the campaign. It was a dog and pony to meet the artificial 100 day deadline.

Same with the renewed Obamacare replacement plan which just fell through. Trump needs to learn that you cannot rush things. You have to do a lot of work behind the scenes before you start the public process. After the first Obamacare repeal failure he should have learned that, but he was trying to get something through the house by day 100 (even though it probably wouldn't make through the Senate) and then even the House plan fell apart again.
 
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