President Donald Trump Sunday tweeted that the process for tax cuts and reform are "ahead of schedule," but Washington's status quo is already taking its toll on some of the deep rate cuts Republicans are seeking, reports The Wall Street Journal.
"Eventually you run out of ways to pay for your promises," Alan Cole, an economist at the Tax Foundation, told the publication. "There aren't any free obvious sources of money where you can just do the thing and nobody gets mad."
Some of the largest tax code changes, including border adjustments for the corporate tax, ending the deduction for business interest and changing individual tax breaks for retirement and health are already facing resistance. Meanwhile, repealing deductions for state and local taxes appears to be close to a consensus, but party lawmakers whose states lean blue are objecting to that as well.
There are some alternatives, including temporary tax cuts that would comply with rules that prevent long-term deficits. Last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin did not rule out temporary cuts, telling the House Ways and Means Committee that such measures were "better than nothing," but he said permanent cuts would be better.
Lawmakers could also agree to settle on a 25 percent corporate tax rate, not the 20 percent House Republicans back or Trump's 15 percent.
Tax reform also became delayed when the Affordable Care Act was not quickly repealed, and the tax bill must wait for the healthcare bill and budget. With the Senate still to work out its revisions to the American Health Care Act, it may take some time before tax reform comes about.
Border adjustment especially is meeting wide resistance, with pressure coming from major retailers such as Target and WalMart, who say the measure would create higher prices for customers and threaten their businesses.
In addition, Mnuchin has said he'd rather leave the call for interest deduction alone, relaying concerns from small businesses and industries such as real estate, which depend on debt financing.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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