The early reactions suggest that Trump's tax plan is neither "progressive" nor "revenue neutral."
It's no less transparently stupid and contradictory than most post-Reagan fiscal proposals have been, and the populist packaging is nothing new - Jeb did it, his brother did it, Reagan did it, etc., and all relied on innumerate journalists who don't understand what a marginal tax rate is to faithfully regurgitate press release talking points about how much this will help ordinary Americans/the middle class/working families/whatever. Regressive tax cuts + populist rhetoric has been the bread-and-butter of the Republican's political strategy wrt fiscal policy for at least the past thirty-five years.
I agree with much of what you wrote. Surprised? Anyway, the tax plan does not raise nearly enough revenue, and rolls back progressively to a substantial extent. The real issue is that to slash taxes, one needs to slash spending, and the Pubs know that most spending is quite popular when specified, and the idea of rolling back taxes financed by slashing entitlements, politically toxic. So the fantasy narrative is written that there is much to be cut without being specific, and the balance of the circle squared by supply side theories. And there may be some truth to supply side - at the margins - and probably not much supply action at the tax rates we have and are talking about. Thus, the idea that supply side will close most of the 10 trillion gap in revenue versus spending in the Trump plan is just f'ing ludicrous. When or when will some Pub candidate have the guts to simply tell the truth to the Pub voters and that living in a fantasy world is simply not the way to solve problems in this nation? When?
