Add to that state taxes on capi-
tal gains and the top marginal rate in several states would exceed 50%. Trump’s economic strategists strongly oppose what they see as an unbridled attack on investment and capital. Biden also supports the controver-
sial proposal to impose a new 25% tax on the value of investments before capital gains are realized. The administration wants those
receiving investment holdings — say, stock portfolios, cryptocurrency, or land that has increased in value — to pay an additional tax even before the assets have been sold to trigger capital gains.
While this would only impact high-
net-worth individuals initially, the federal camel’s nose would be inside the tent. Critics note the Biden plan essentially creates a second estate or “death” tax. Trump opposes adding this new type of death tax. And finally, according to the left-
leaning think tank Center for Ameri- can Progress, Biden’s plans “would bring the United States into compli- ance” with international organiza- tions that plan to levy “a global mini-
TRUMP SLASHED CORPORATE TAXES
35% 21% 2017 2020 18% PROPOSED
announcement, GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and Rick Scott introduced a bill to exempt tips from federal income taxes. Any change will have to wait for the November elections, however. Norquist would love to
toss several other taxes into 20% NOW
the dustbin of history. Among them: Excise taxes on firearms, which are protected under the Second Amendment. Federal taxes on alcoholic
beverages, which are already taxed by state governments. Norquist calls these levies
PROPOSED
mum tax on very large multinational corporations.” In so doing, it’s a step toward link-
ing U.S. taxation to global tax initia- tives, a path Trump clearly opposes.
BIDEN’S NOT-SO-NOBLE ENDORSEMENTS A few days before the June presiden- tial debate, a group of 16 Nobel Prize- winning economists shot off an open letter endorsing Biden over Trump. Their rationale for backing Biden seemed mind-boggling. “There is rightly a worry,” they
wrote, “that Donald Trump will reig- nite inflation with his fiscally irre- sponsible budgets.” Yet real household incomes under
Biden dropped $2,100 per family due to inflation. Under Trump, when inflation was around 2%, those same families enjoyed a household income increase of nearly $6,000. But researchers noted these were
also the same economists who had issued a joint letter in 2021 assuring Americans that conservatives were all wrong and predicting the huge expenditures in Biden’s “Build Back
BIDEN WANTS TO DOUBLE CAPITAL GAINS TAX
44.6%
Better” plan would “ease longer-term inflationary pressures.” Within 18 months of that commu-
nique from Biden’s brilliant backers, the inflationary wildfires in the Unit- ed States were raging out of control. Inflation under Biden ultimately hit 9.1%, its steepest level in over four decades. Lower- and middle-income Americans are still struggling to recover. With that track record, Moore sug-
gests they should all “send back their Nobels and Ph.D.s, and admit that when it comes to the real world, they have no idea what they are talking about.”
Enacting Biden’s tax policies,
Moore says, amounts to “a reversal of the whole supply-side revolution” that began during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. It’s an approach that revived an economy decimated under former President Jimmy Carter. Trump wants tax cuts to put more
money back in taxpayers’ pock- ets. Toward that goal, he’s already pledged to eliminate taxing tip and gratuity income.
AN END TO INCOME TAXES? Moore plays down Trump’s flirtation with doing away with income taxes altogether, noting it would leave a $2 trillion hole in federal revenues. But he notes Trump’s plan to increase tar- iffs on imports could offset the reduc- tion in corporate tax revenue. “The essence of a good tax system,”
says Moore, “is a broad base and low rates. That’s what we tried to achieve under Reagan — broaden the base and lower the rates.”
holdovers from the Prohibition era. Taxes on capital gains that
accrue due to inflation. When you sell your home or cash in your 401(k), says Norquist, why should purely inflationary gains be subject to taxation? Whether a second Trump
administration would embrace those exemptions remains to be seen. But Trump’s push to shield gratuities from taxation already has caught the attention of millions of hard- working Americans who count on their tips to make ends meet. — D.A.P.
AUGUST 2024 | NEWSMAX 15
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