Trumpism is NOT conservatism by any stretch - today's edition

Are we beginning to discern the contours of this "populism" that has eluded precise definition?

Even though Leftist demagogues like Chuck Schumer still want to call the tax proposal Squirrel-Hair seems to have settled on a gift to wealthy people and a "punch to the gut" to "working Americans," it strains credulity to think he doesn't know he's engaging in pure grandstanding.

You see, a key feature of the proposal is a significant hike on the rate of the highest bracket.

While it's always impossible to parse just why Trump does anything, it looks like his desire to curry the favor of those who look down on him (he missed the boat, at least on this, which Schumer, didn't he?) was a driving factor:

What prompted Trump’s move on taxes for the highest earners? His desire to jump in bed with Democrats again, according to Politico:

President Donald Trump — eager to work with Democrats on tax reform — upended Republican leaders' plans to cut taxes for the rich just as the party is set to unveil its much-awaited tax proposal.

During a meeting at the White House on Tuesday, Trump made a point of telling GOP and Democratic lawmakers that his top tax advisers — Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, both very affluent individuals — won’t see their tax bills reduced. Both men nodded in agreement, sources in the room told POLITICO.

While S-H is no genius, he's surely aware of what the percentages are regarding which brackets pay what:

Highest Quintile (above $234,700): $57,500

Fourth Quintile (above $83,800): $14,800

Third Quintile (above $49,800): $7,400

Second Quintile (above $29,600): $3,200

Lowest Quintile (above $15,500): $500

When you factor out the government transfers received, only the top two quintiles actually pay net federal taxes: $46,500 for the top quintile, $700 for the fourth quintile. As Mark Perry of American Enterprise Institute writes:

the richest 20% of Americans by income aren’t just paying a share of federal taxes that would be considered “fair” — it goes way beyond “fair” — they’re shouldering almost 100% of the entire federal tax burden of transfer payments and all other non-financed government spending.

Granted, the proposal lowers the corporate rate substantially, from 35% to 20. But that merely underscores the inconsistency and absence of principle that characterizes most of what S-H does.


But may I make a modest suggestion? It involves the same principle that I discuss in the previous post, the one about health care: speaking plainly about basic human freedom.

It doesn't matter if a person is rich, poor, or middle class, government ought to have to puke all over itself to justify taking the first red penny from any citizen. Therefore, if we're going to tax income, the only fair way to do it is at a flat rate across the board.

The odds of such a discussion getting a prominent airing are pretty dim in the Trump era.