Pirate's Cove

They think they got Trump on this one!

Trump Flirts With the Ultimate Tax Cut: No Income Taxes at All

Former President Donald J. Trump has spent much of the presidential campaign brainstorming new, and sometimes untested, ways to cut taxes. In the election’s final stretch, he raised the possibility of going even further: eliminating income taxes entirely.

During a Fox News segment on Monday, Mr. Trump took questions at a barbershop in the Bronx. When asked if the United States could potentially end all federal taxation, Mr. Trump said the country could return to the economic policies in the late 19th century, when there was no federal income tax.

“It had all tariffs — it didn’t have an income tax,” Mr. Trump said. “Now we have income taxes, and we have people that are dying. They’re paying tax, and they don’t have the money to pay the tax.”

In June, Mr. Trump floated the idea of replacing federal revenue from income taxes with money received from tariffs. Mr. Trump has not provided specific details of how that would work, and it is unclear if he wants to eliminate all federal taxes, including corporate income taxes and payroll taxes, or only end the individual income tax.

LOL: “not provided specific details.” What specific details has Kamala offered on anything? She can barely articulate her sticky note ideas. Regardless, it seemed to work back then, till greedy Congress Critters decided they wanted more and more money for pet projects and to repay campaign contributors, as the federal government took more and more power that was not given by the Constitution. Most money should go to the state coffers, and just enough to run the assigned Constitutional duties of the federal government

Either way, both liberal and conservative experts have dismissed his idea as mathematically impossible and economically destructive. Even if Republicans control Congress, lawmakers are unlikely to dismantle the income tax system. Yet Mr. Trump’s combination of tax cuts and tariff increases has been central to his political pitch.

You know who the Times cites as a conservative expert?

The potential for such an outcome helped prompt William McKinley, the 25th president, a Republican, whose support for tariffs Mr. Trump often celebrates, to ultimately moderate his position on tariffs. To help American exporters, Mr. McKinley had started to support the possibility of lowering tariffs in the United States in exchange for other countries doing the same before he was assassinated in 1901.

This is not the dunk the Times thinks it is. Really, though, a flat tax with a balanced budget amendment would be best, while paired with a massive reduction in federal government spending, coupled with a massive reduction in federal agencies and employees. Regardless, lower taxation plays well with citizens. Remove federal income tax and replace it with tariffs. It has zero chance of passing. There are too many squishy Republicans. The chances of even having a low tax rate with no deductions for anything, which would come out in citizen’s favor, won’t happen. Read the book Showdown At Gucci Gulf about the attempt at this under Reagan. It’s actually a ver good, interesting read on tax policy.

Also, the idea of tariffs is to force other countries to lower theirs on imported American goods. The NY Times thinks that everyone loves being taxed so that morons can misspend their hard earned money.