Trump’s Goldman Guys Are Dangerous
Tho Bishop
Mises.org
4/5/2017
As the Trump administration continues to try to figure where it wants to go with healthcare, his team at the Treasury is readying tax reform. Unfortunately, much like the Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s film Suicide Squad, initial optimism is facing the bitter reality of horrible early reviews.
After all, during the campaign there was much to like from Candidate Trump. He campaigned on cutting both income and corporate taxes while eliminating the estate tax all together He frequently bragged that it was going to be the “biggest tax cut since Reagan” (reality of the Gipper’s record aside). Trump focused more on economic growth than the deficit and even though he wrongly supported tariff increases in order to “win on trade,” he frequently rejected the creation of new revenue mechanisms.
Of course, on the campaign trail Candidate Trump also was quick to rightly bash the Federal Reserve, their partners on Wall Street, and the political establishment festering in the Washington swamp. After his election, he began to quickly partner with these very same forces. Most concerning was his leasing the US Treasury to Goldman Sachs with the appointment of Mnuchin and tapping Gary Cohn, who previously served as the bank’s COO, to chair the National Economic Council. While Trump’s economic team had largely stayed behind the scenes as the administration focused on healthcare, details are now emerging about what a Trump tax plan may look like.
The Washington Post is reporting that early discussions of tax reform include the possibilities of a carbon tax or a Value Added Tax (VAT). Of course, few publications have done more to diminish their credibility in recent history than The Post and the administration has repeatedly denied interest in a carbon tax. Let’s hope this holds up to be true because, as Robert Murphy’s in-depth analysis on the subject has shown, “imposing any carbon tax … would make society worse off.”
The Rest…HERE
