DON’S RICH GIFT
$100B break plan could skip Congress OK
Make the rich richer ... again.
The Trump administration is weighing unilaterally instituting a $100 billion tax cut that would primarily benefit the rich, The New York Times reported Monday.
Part of the changes could come from the Treasury Department’s definition of “cost,” according to The Times; assets would be valued after adjusting for inflation, as opposed to the current practice of taxing the difference between the original price and the price for which it sold.
Tax breaks for the ultrawealthy have been a recurring theme of the Trump administration so far, including last year’s tax plan. The GOP tax plan, passed by the House in November, the top 1% of taxpayers — those making more than $730,000 — would get a 20% tax cut, an average of about $37,000.
President Trump had similarly urged the House and Senate to pass their respective bills.
“We’re getting close! Now, how about ending the unfair & highly unpopular Indiv Mandate in OCare & reducing taxes even further?” he tweeted in November. “Cut top rate to 35% w/all of the rest going to middle income cuts?”
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is reportedly leading the charge to institute the tax cuts, including bypassing waiting for congressional approval.
“If it can’t get done through a legislation process, we will look at what tools at Treasury we have to do it on our own and we’ll consider that,” he said during the Group of 20 summit meeting earlier in the month. “We are studying that internally, and we are also studying the economic costs and the impact on growth.”
Former President George H.W. Bush had rejected a proposal to pass tax cuts by executive order in 1992, while former President Barack Obama, backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, had considered excluding Congress in a plan to close tax break loopholes for corporations.
Unsurprisingly, the latest tax law, signed into effect just before Christmas, has mostly benefited corporate executives selling stocks back to their own companies, according to a Politico report Monday. The law, which cut corporate tax rates to 21% has led to a higherthan-usual stock buyback, including at Oracle Corp. where CEO Safra Catz has sold $250 million in shares of her own company. In May, Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga also sold $44.4 million in stock.