Here you will find a fine article on Donald Trump’s brilliant new tax plan for the United States of America.
It will bankrupt the country. First, corporate taxes are going to be reduced from 35% to 15%. The trillions in deficits that mere economists predict won’t happen, according to Steven Mnuchin, because growth in reported income will cover it. I think a bit of simple math here is in order: 35% divided by 15% is seven over three. That’s more than double. So to make up for the tax break, American companies will have to report, and pay tax on,more than double their current net profit levels.
Sound likely? Guess not.
That this would save the Donald considerable (?? we don’t see his tax returns, eh??) tax money himself seems to trouble him not a whit.
In addition, this tax reform would do the following:
- some sort of repatriation tax, giving big companies an incentive to bring back money they hold overseas
- tax breaks for childcare expenses
- doubling the amount of standard tax deduction
- a cut in individual rates, although few details expected yet
- more tax rate cuts for hedge funds, and other enterprises that pay taxes at individual rates
- easing the tax form process
And in all of this there is no new tax revenue source:
Mr Trump’s blueprint is not expected to include any proposals for raising new revenue.
The much-discussed border tax that would put a tariff on imports – favoured by House Speaker Paul Ryan – will not be in the plan.
When Mr. Trump got in personal financial trouble in the past, he declared bankruptcy and went on living.
There is the odd voice of sanity in the wings, for example:
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown called the 15% rate workable only “if you want to blow a hole in the federal budget and cut a whole lot of things like Meals on Wheels and Lake Erie restoration and then lie about the growth rate of the economy”.
Bankrupt. The US Federal Government is going to be bankrupt.
No dumb questions this time. Have a nice day.