Take him seriously? Okay

Ideas have consequences, which is why we are not just going to ignore President Donald Trump’s proposal for cutting the middle class’s taxes by 10 percent, on top of the tax cuts already delivered by the $1.2 trillion 2017 plan he and the Republican Congress enacted. As is often the case with Trump’s policy utterances, this one appears improvised, blurted out to reporters in Nevada and repeated amid a campaign rally in Texas. Yet he has insisted on it, claiming Tuesday that “we’re putting in a resolution probably this week,” notwithstanding the fact that Congress is not in session.

Taken seriously, this is a deeply irresponsible idea. Before we explain why, however, we have to admit that we have no clearer sense exactly what Trump is talking about than he does. Ten percent of what? Who counts as middle class?

Trump’s idea would be slightly less reckless if it were true, as he says, that “we’re doing other things which I don’t have to explain now, but it’ll be pretty much of a net neutral.” There is zero reason to take him seriously on that pledge, but even a paid-for middle-class tax cut would still be unnecessary.

Rather, he’s attempting a cheap political trick near the end of a midterm campaign in which middle-class voters have not responded well to the 2017 tax cuts, partly because those did favor the wealthy and businesses. The truth is that the United States needs a long-term plan for fiscal sustainability that would probably require middle-class Americans to pay a bit more for the government services they evidently want and need. Telling the truth, though, is not Trump’s strong suit.