What Trump’s tax plan reveals

By, James Pethokoukis

TheWeek.com

Donald Trump’s tax plan may be “ludicrous,” said James Pethokoukis, but it proves he “is actually serious about capturing the Republican presidential nomination.” The Republican front runner’s tax plan, released this week, looks like he took Jeb Bush’s tax plan and decided, “We should do this, but make it more tremendous!” Trump would cut the top tax rate from 39.6% to 25% (Bush has proposed 28%), lower the corporate tax rate to 15%, and free 75 million Americans from paying any income tax whatsoever. Even the estate tax on large inheritances would go to zero. Bush’s plan would cost the federal treasury more than 3 trillion over a decade, but Trump’s would cost about 10 trillion. No amount of economic growth or loophole closing could make up for the massive deficits it would cause. But as tax-hating Grover Norquist pointed out, virtually every Republican in Congress would vote for such “tax reform,” so here is the art of Trump’s presidential deal: “mass deportations” for the nativist base and tax cuts for the rich and everybody else. What’s not to like?