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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Trump made a lot of tax promises. Can he keep them?
By Tami Luhby, CNN
Updated:
4:00 PM EST, Sat November 16, 2024
Source: CNN
Seeking to woo targeted groups of voters during his campaign,
President-elect Donald Trump rolled out plans for a , including
promises to eliminate levies on , and , for millions of Americans.
Now comes the harder part – actually keeping all those promises. Even
though Republicans will control Congress, enacting the
president-elect’s broad tax agenda could be a heavy lift. The risk is
that if the party is unable to deliver, some Americans who voted for
Trump because they were yearning for may wind up disappointed.
Both Trump and GOP lawmakers have said that tax relief – including
extending their signature 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire at the
end of next year – is one of the top legislative priorities for the
coming year.
“Cutting taxes for the American people, cutting taxes on tips for
hard working Americans, on Social Security for our seniors,” Karoline
Leavitt, a Trump transition spokesperson, said on Fox News’ “Sunday
Morning Futures.” “These are things that can be done through
Congress, and we’ll be working with members on Capitol Hill to get
that legislation drafted so President Trump can sign it into law
immediately and make real changes for the American people.”
However, Trump’s extensive tax wish list is very pricey and comes at
a time when the . Extending the could cost more than $4 trillion, and
the incoming president has promised more than $3.3 trillion in tax
relief measures on top of that.
Although Trump claims that his plan to will replace the revenue lost to
these tax breaks, experts say that’s not possible. Instead, the will
blow a nearly into the federal budget over the next decade, according
to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Enacting Trump’s multitude of new tax proposals could be challenging
given the revenue constraints and deficit concerns, Marc Gerson, a
member of Miller & Chevalier, a Washington D.C.-based law firm
specializing in tax matters, told CNN.
“What I imagine will happen is that one or more of the Trump campaign
tax proposals will be included as a kind of tip of the hat,” said
Gerson, who previously served as tax counsel for the House Ways and
Means Committee when it was led by Republicans. “Maybe it’s done on
a more scaled back basis or maybe it’s done on a temporary basis.”
Notably, when Trump vowed to eliminate taxes on tips, several GOP
lawmakers swiftly introduced bills, Gerson noted. But exempting
overtime pay is more complicated, and eliminating the levy on Social
Security benefits can’t be done under reconciliation, a procedure
that allows Republicans to approve legislation in the Senate with fewer
than the standard 60 votes. (Republicans will have at least 52 seats,
with one race yet to be declared, so they will need to use
reconciliation to pass the tax package.)
GOP lawmakers in both chambers have already started exploring how to
extend the 2017 tax package. Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, who is expected to
take the helm of the Senate Finance Committee in the coming term, has
said that “everything in the tax code will be under consideration,
including new ideas” and that “pro-growth tax policy does not need
to be offset,” Mandi Critchfield, his communications director, told
CNN.
Spokespeople for Missouri Rep. Jason Smith, who could continue to lead
the House Ways and Means Committee if Republicans keep control of the
chamber, did not return a request for comment.
Though cost will be an issue as the tax package is constructed, there
are lots of different levers that lawmakers can use to adjust the cost
of the provisions and remain consistent with Trump’s campaign
promises, said Chris Campbell, a former staff director of the Senate
Finance Committee under Republican leadership and a former assistant
Treasury secretary in the first Trump administration.
“Congress will have to work carefully to construct the legislative
package that includes the president’s tax promises in the most
fiscally prudent way they could manage,” Campbell, now CEO of
Incamera Solutions, a global advisory firm, told CNN, adding he
wouldn’t be surprised if such a package becomes a priority during the
first 100 days of the new administration.
In addition to eliminating taxes on certain income, Trump also floated
making fully tax deductible; getting rid of the ; ending the double
taxation on Americans who live abroad; exempting police officers,
firefighters, veterans and active-duty military from federal income
tax; and even exploring itself.
Eliminating taxes on tips
Among Trump’s most repeated promises was an end to taxes on tips,
which he unveiled at a June rally in Nevada, a swing state that’s
home to many hospitality workers. Though his campaign didn’t release
details on the proposal, Trump indicated that he would eliminate both
federal income taxes and payroll taxes, which fund Social Security and
Medicare.
Also unclear is how much tipped income would be free of taxes, whether
the relief would only apply to workers in certain industries and
whether any guardrails would be put in place to prevent others from
gaming the system.
Many tipped workers would not benefit from eliminating federal income
taxes on tips since they don’t earn enough to pay income tax,
according to The Budget Lab at Yale University.
Virtually all tipped workers would get some tax relief if Trump also
gets rid of payroll taxes on tips, the Tax Policy Center found.
However, these workers would then get smaller Social Security payments
after they retire.
Soon after Trump promised to get rid of taxes on tips, Republican Sen.
Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a bill titled “No Tax on Tips Act,”
which would allow workers to deduct tips paid by cash, check, credit
card and debit card on their federal income taxes. However, it would
not eliminate federal payroll taxes, which total 15.3%, half of which
is paid by employers. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican from Florida,
introduced companion legislation in the House.
However, the legislation contains few, if any, guardrails to stop
high-income workers from shifting their pay to tips to try to escape
taxes, according to the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning
policy institute.
“Sen. Cruz’s bill would open the door to tax abuse that could
provide a windfall to hedge fund managers, lawyers, and other
high-income professionals,” , senior director for economic policy at
the center.
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