Trump’s and the GOP’s tax reform agenda is getting a hard push from the president as well as the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as the two teamed up this week at a hurriedly scheduled press conference to discuss the matter.
“I really believe that we have a very good chance of getting the taxes done … hopefully fairly long before the end of the year,” said Trump, with Sen. McConnell reiterating: “The goal is to get it done by the end of the year.”
But what the president wants, the president may not get. First of all, tax-writing committees are yet to create the bill. In addition, the budget resolution for Fiscal 2018 needs to be passed by the chamber. That could happen this week but, even if it does, there are several other pieces of legislation queued up for the year.
The budget resolution could, if passed, provide Republican senators with a means to exclusively pass the bill with only Republican votes. But President Trump still wants to see “minor adjustments” to the original framework put forth by Republicans, which he has not revealed at this time.
The original framework also neglects to show a viable way to offset the $6 trillion in expected revenue loss should the bill be passed. The conversation around that has raked up some controversy of its own, with the lead point being the elimination of state and local tax deduction.
Ever since the Obamacare repeal bill fell through in the Senate, Trump and McConnell have been thought to be at loggerheads, even resorting to a “profane shouting match” as reported by the New York Times in August.
But on the tax reform, they are committed to presenting a united front. While McConnell defended his relationship with the president with a “Contrary to what some of you may have reported, we are together totally on this agenda to move America forward,” President Trump has extended that sentiment to not only McConnell, but also other Republicans in Congress:
“If you read the papers, you think it’s like I am on one island and they’re like on the other. Well, it is not the way it is. We have a fantastic relationship. I am friends with most of them, I can say. I don’t think anybody could have much of a higher percentage. But I am friends of most of them. I like and respect most of them and I think they like and respect me.”
The tax reform bill, if passed into law in the current form presented in the framework, is likely to cause an upheaval on several fronts. High-tax states like New York are already opposed to the deduction cut that’s being proposed, and even several wealthy individuals are against the elimination of estate tax on multi-million-dollar estate assets. In addition, many feel that the corporate tax cut to 20% is far too deep, since not enough will filter down to the average worker anyway.
Also Read:
3 out of 4 Americans Favor Higher Taxes for the Nation’s Wealthiest
Senate Budget Resolution to Advance Tax Reform Could Get “Yes” from Sen. Susan Collins
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