TAXES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump heads to Missouri on Wednesday [8-30-17] to argue that a tax plan that significantly cuts business taxes would benefit middle-class workers, White House officials said.
The speech in Springfield, which isn’t expected to offer new policy details, begins a new phase of the president’s direct engagement in the tax debate, said the officials, who spoke to reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity.
One of the officials said Mr. Trump would make a ‘very bipartisan speech’ that would reflect Americans’ frustration that a well-connected few are reaping economic gains…
Independent analyses of prior tax plans from Republicans and Mr. Trump show the biggest benefits going to high-income households. The Treasury Department and the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that workers do pay some corporate taxes in the form of depressed wages, but that the bulk of the cost is borne by owners of capital, who tend to be wealthier.
Faced with the political urgency of needing something to show to voters in 2018, Republicans hope to push a major tax bill through Congress by the end of the year.
They are still working on the legislation and they have a long list of obstacles to overcome. They haven’t settled on which tax breaks would go away, or whether they want a net tax cut, or how much revenue the new tax code would raise.
The White House has agreed on a broad framework with lawmakers and is ceding much of the detailed work to Congress while the president makes the public case that business tax cuts would yield faster economic growth and rising wages. Even in the absence of a detailed bill, there are some consistent themes.”
-Richard Rubin, “Trump Pitches Business Tax Cut to Middle Class,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 30, 2017 07:42am