Trump Tax Plan On Verge Of Disaster Amid Corker Feud, Paul Rejection

Now that President Trump’s simmering feud with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker has exploded into the open, it appears that Republicans’ odds of passing tax reform before the White House’s self-imposed year-end deadline are growing slimmer by the day, and according to Cowen analyst Chris Krueger, "tax reform is dead, full stop."

And with the administration increasingly staking its credibly on the process, Politico is reporting that White House Legislative Director Marc Short has - on the order's of the president - embarked on what’s probably a fool’s errand: coaxing Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul – one of the most vocal opponents of the administration’s agenda – to vote “yes” on the bill.

The Republican bill hasn’t yet been written, but Paul has already lashed out at the administration’s nine-page tax-reform proposal for appearing to offset tax cuts for corporations and the rich by raising taxes on the middle class. Indeed, as discussed previously, a review of the preliminary proposal by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center suggested that middle-class taxpayers could wind up paying more if certain deductions, such as eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes, are eliminated.

Paul said in an interview that he’s undecided on both the budget and the tax plan blueprint but unleashed a torrent of criticism at the tax proposal nonetheless.

“The danger for this bill right now is the pay-for may be a middle-class tax hike. And if that’s that, it’s going to be a real problem,” Paul said. “If you lower the taxes on the rich and lower the taxes on the poor and then say, ‘Oh it’s going to be revenue neutral,’ we’ve got to raise somebody’s taxes to pay for it.”

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