TRUMP TRIUMPHS ON TAXES
Corporations, wealthy benefit most
WASHINGTON — A triumphant President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans celebrated the passage of their $1.5 trillion tax overhaul Wednesday as a “historic victory for the American people.” The American people, however, will need some convincing.
As Trump and GOP lawmakers gathered at the White House to cheer their first major legislative achievement — and the biggest tax changes in a generation — some Republicans warned the party could face political backlash against an overhaul that offers corporations and wealthy taxpayers the biggest benefits and triggers the loss of health care coverage for millions.
There was no hint of anxiety at the White House, though, as the president and congressional Republicans pushed any qualms aside and reveled in a much-needed win at the end of a year marked by GOP in-
fighting and political stumbles.
“We are making America great again,” Trump declared, personally thanking his “little team” of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, before lawmakers lavished praise upon a president they have often openly criticized. “I don’t know if we’ll have bigger moments, but we hope to,” said Trump.
The president was expected to sign the bill at a later date for technical reasons. In fact, the signing may be postponed until the start of the new calendar year to delay $120 billion in automatic cuts to popular programs, such as Medicare, and spare Republicans from having to explain them in an election year.
The tax package provides a deep cut in the corporate rate, from 35 percent to 21 percent. On the individual side, about 80 percent of American households will get tax cuts next year, while about 5 percent will pay more, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.
People who make less than $25,000 will see an average tax cut of $60; those who earn between $49,000 and $86,000 will get about $900, and those in the top 1 percent of income — earning over $733,000 — will receive around $51,000 in tax savings, the policy center said.
The cuts will come at a price: The Congressional Budget Office predicts the plan will add $1.4 trillion to the national debt in the next decade.
Some of the president’s strongest allies conceded that voters may not immediately warm to the new law.
Andy Surabian, a senior aide for a pro-Trump super PAC, likened the president’s position to that of Ronald Reagan, who struggled through low approval ratings early in his presidential term after Congress passed a tax cut that led to huge Republican losses in the 1982 midterm elections. Reagan went on to a sweeping re-election in 1984 after the economy improved.
Said Surabian: “Even if we don’t start seeing positive effects in 2018, the important thing here is President Trump sets himself up to win re-election in 2020.”
GOP strategists and candidates alike called on Trump to launch an immediate public relations tour to sell the plan to help avert an antiRepublican tsunami in 2018.
“People don’t understand it,” said Virginia Republican Senate candidate Corey Stewart, though he still called passage “a massive win.”
Only about 1 in 3 voters have supported the legislation in recent days, according to several polls. About half of Americans believe the plan will hurt their personal finances. And 2 in 3 voters say the wealthy will get the most benefits, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released last week.
The White House said Wednesday Trump will actively promote the bill. Aides argued media coverage has not accurately portrayed the benefits and that people will come around as they feel the payoff.
Trump himself complained in a tweet that “defeated Dems” and the media were out to “demean” the tax package, but “the results will speak for themselves, starting very soon.”
Democrats, who unanimously opposed the tax plan in Congress, were furious about the new policy, yet upbeat about the potential political fallout in next year’s elections. They need to flip 24 House seats and just two Senate seats to take control of each chamber.
While the plan does not repeal Obamacare, the legislation finalized by the House on Wednesday attacks a central tenet of the health care system by eliminating the requirement that all Americans have health insurance. The Congressional Budget Office says elimination of the “individual mandate” will boost health care costs by about 10 percent for those with coverage and leave 13 million additional Americans without health insurance in 10 years.
Millions will remain covered under the law’s Medicaid expansion and health care exchanges, but Trump said, “We have essentially repealed Obamacare.”
On taxes, the first effects will be felt in February paychecks.