Staff Reports
Congress is teetering on the precipice of a tax disaster in 2025, and it’s all set to roll back the individual components of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—commonly referred to as the Trump tax cuts. As the elections loom like a dark cloud, Americans are at risk of seeing their pockets picked by the government once again. The stakes in this tax showdown are enormous, with individual tax rates, expanded deductions, child tax credits, business tax breaks, and estate tax exemptions hanging in the balance.
Vice President Kamala Harris finds herself in quite a pickle. She’s committed to keeping the dubious promise made by President Joe Biden that no one making under $400,000 will see their taxes rise. This sounds fantastic, except for the small detail that by allowing the Trump tax cuts to expire, she’s essentially inviting an increase in taxes for middle-income earners. It’s the classic “have your cake and eat it too” conundrum, except her cake is a giant tax increase, and the frosting is confusing.
Kamala Harris is the person who broke a tie in the Senate to tax tips. Now she says she wants to NOT tax tips. How is she going to accomplish this? She's the one who voted to do it in the first place!!
Does she does not remember? Or is she a liar?? pic.twitter.com/C6LTrD8K61— Lorrie Ann 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇸 (@LorrieAnn25) August 12, 2024
Despite the constant barrage of attacks on the Trump tax cuts by Democrats claiming they’re nothing more than a gift to the wealthy, the reality remains that these cuts benefitted a broad swath of taxpayers, especially those below the $400,000 threshold. Evidence from various analyses reveals that the 2017 tax reform lowered tax rates and increased credits for families. However, Harris appears ready to throw that all out simply to appease her party’s radical left.
Harris’s economic vision remains muddled at best, lacking any solid proposals. Instead, her team points to a vague budget promise from Biden that supposedly cuts taxes for lower-income Americans by a whopping $765 billion over the next decade. Whether that number is anything more than political theater remains to be seen, as no one has yet to see a detailed plan from her. However, Trump’s campaign isn’t hesitating to label her intentions as covert tax hikes, suggesting her lack of transparency is a sign of something much worse.
The choice for voters could not be clearer. Trump promises to extend the 2017 tax cuts and even reduce taxes further, claiming he will eliminate taxes on both tipped wages and Social Security benefits. If such plans sound too good to be true, that’s because they are, as some experts are already warning that this would strike a damaging blow to the federal revenue stream. Meanwhile, Harris remains shackled to a Biden administration that has already made its mark with record-high inflation, inevitably leading to what appears to be a hefty tax burden hidden beneath the surface.
Given that Harris has yet to produce a detailed tax plan, the only evidence of her intentions is the words of a few Democratic allies. Yet, she manages to poll ahead of Trump despite his evident lead on economic issues. Whether that lead can hold strong in the weeks leading up to the election is anyone’s guess. Still, one thing is certain: fiscal responsibility and sound economic policy continue to be mere afterthoughts in the Democratic playbook.
