Republicans’ botched pitch for tax cuts could cost them dearly. Their revised plan, disclosed on Thursday, deals only partly with earlier criticism that it benefits the rich. And the chief lieutenants responsible for selling it to the public for the White House, Gary Cohn and Steven Mnuchin, have fumbled their way through their own script.
G.O.P. House leaders have, at least, ditched the idea of scrapping the top rate of tax of nearly 40 percent, for the highest earners. But they’re cutting to 25 percent the rate for so-called pass-through entities like limited-liability companies and partnerships. Many wealthy people, including President Trump and some members of his cabinet, have made liberal use of these.
Such abysmal marketing is already falling flat with voters: Only 25 percent of Americans like the plan and just 14 percent believe they will get a tax cut, according to an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll. If that translates into problems pushing the cuts through Congress, it will put the Trump administration’s goals of sustained 3 percent economic growth and rising wages in jeopardy. That would be a dismal failure going into an election year.
Full story and image credit source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/business/dealbook/republicans-tax-plan.html