Up Next: Tax Reform

[Onyx]

How bad will Donald Trump fail on this? There hasn't been a successful attempt at major tax reform in the US for 30 years.

 

[Mac1958]

It may look similar to this health care debacle thing, where the libertarians in the "Freedom Caucus" end up gumming up the works.

Could be pretty entertaining.
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[Onyx]

It may look similar to this health care debacle thing, where the libertarians in the "Freedom Caucus" end up gumming up the works.

Could be pretty entertaining.
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He will be met with major resistance from his own party if he tries to modify tariffs. Not a popular position, or an economically sound one.

 

[Mac1958]

It may look similar to this health care debacle thing, where the libertarians in the "Freedom Caucus" end up gumming up the works. Could be pretty entertaining.

He will be met with major resistance from his own party if he tries to modify tariffs. Not a popular position, or an economically sound one.

Well, he personally won by being a political tornado, shit flying all over the place, very little making sense. But Congress still has to toe the conservative line for their constituents and fundraisers, so that's an asymmetrical relationship right there. Even within the same party.
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[usmbguest5318]

How bad will Donald Trump fail on this? There hasn't been a successful attempt at major tax reform in the US for 30 years.

Tax reform is among the easiest of the "major" initiatives he could hope to pass. It all depends, however, on what "tax reform" means. Nobody particularly wants to pay more taxes, but merely lowering marginal tax rates isn't the beginning and end of what legislators do when they "reform" taxes.

 

[Indeependent]

Trump will have to drain the swamp to accomplish anything.

 

[whitehall]

Trump may have taken a hit from congress on his campaign promise to repeal Obamacare but you can bet your ass(ets) that he is going forward to reform the tax code. Drain the swamp.

 

[Onyx]

Tax reform is among the easiest of the "major" initiatives he could hope to pass. It all depends, however, on what "tax reform" means. Nobody particularly wants to pay more taxes, but merely lowering marginal tax rates isn't the beginning and end of what legislators do when they "reform" taxes.

Maybe the easiest, but not easy. It has been attempted many times and failed.

Tax reform doesn't mean tax cuts. It would involve actual revisions of the US tax code.

 

[Onyx]

Trump may have taken a hit from congress on his campaign promise to repeal Obamacare but you can bet your ass(ets) that he is going forward to reform the tax code.

I wonder if he will shut the tax loopholes he has been benefiting from for decades.

 

[usmbguest5318]

Tax reform is among the easiest of the "major" initiatives he could hope to pass. It all depends, however, on what "tax reform" means. Nobody particularly wants to pay more taxes, but merely lowering marginal tax rates isn't the beginning and end of what legislators do when they "reform" taxes.

Maybe the easiest, but not easy. It has been attempted many times and failed. Tax reform doesn't mean tax cuts. It would involve actual revisions of the US tax code.

No, it's not easy, but it's easier by far than healthcare/health insurance. At the end of the day, if they materially lower marginal tax rates on the middle class, they can get away with a whole lot of other stuff. Let's face facts. Selling the message "this bill cuts your tax rate by X%?" In our current climate, one'd practically have to also legislate mass infanticide in the same bill -- or perhaps label it as a Democratically introduced bill -- for it to not be well received by the general public, the vast majority of which don't read proposed legislation and who instead rely on what their favorite partisan pundit tells them.

 

[Onyx]

No, it's not easy, but it's easier by far than healthcare/health insurance. At the end of the day, if they materially lower marginal tax rates on the middle class, they can get away with a whole lot of other stuff.

Tax cuts are not tax reform. Republicans are selling tax reform as rewriting how current taxes are implemented and reorganization of the IRS

 

[usmbguest5318]

No, it's not easy, but it's easier by far than healthcare/health insurance. At the end of the day, if they materially lower marginal tax rates on the middle class, they can get away with a whole lot of other stuff.

Tax cuts are not tax reform. Republicans are selling tax reform as rewriting how current taxes are implemented and reorganization of the IRS

Oh, my God. What have I done to deserve this? Does every single thing need to be spelled out for you with a big red crayon?

Package the cuts and the actual reforms in the same piece of legislation.

 

[Onyx]

Package the cuts and the actual reforms in the same piece of legislation.

It would have to be two separate pieces of legislation. I don't think they can put specific taxes into a revision of the Interal Revenue Code.

The main resistance wouldn't come from the general public either, but rather among congressional Republicans. Putting tax cuts into a tax reform bill wouldn't resolve fundamental differences on tax reform.