PLUTOCRATS VS. POPULISTS

Trump himself may have campaigned as a populist, but the policies enacted under unified Republican control of the White House and Congress have been unmistakably plutocratic

- Andrea Louise Campbell

US President Donald Trump struck a chord recently when he urged congressional Republicans to consider raising taxes on the rich as part of his signature “big, beautiful bill.”

Of course, the version of the bill that just squeaked past the Senate in a 51-50 vote, with Vice President J.D. Vance providing the tiebreaker, does no such thing. Still, Trump’s comments echoed the widely held belief among non-wealthy Americans that the rich pay too little in taxes and are not contributing their fair share.

That belief is rooted in the “ability to pay” principle that helped shape the federal income tax system when it was introduced in 1913.The idea is simple: those with greater financial resources should contribute more. In line with this view, Trump proposed reinstating the top personal income-tax rate to its Obama-era level of 39.6%.

But despite Trump’s knack for tapping into the concerns of his electoral base, Republican lawmakers were quick to shut down the proposal.

At the heart of the bill is the retention of key elements from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including the permanent expansion of the deduction for “pass-through” business income taxed at the individual level. Roughly 70% of pass-through income goes to the top 1% of earners.