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You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition - March 15, 2017
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This is the March 15, 2017, edition of an email sent from November 2016 to September 2017 that covered Donald Trump's presidential transition, cabinet appointees, and the different policy positions of those individuals who may have had an effect on the new administration. Previous editions of "You're Hired" can be found here.
After two pages of President Trump’s 2005 tax returns were leaked to the press yesterday, much of the news today surrounds how much he paid. Here at You’re Hired, we’re going to take a look at what Trump has to say about everyone else’s taxes. What are his plans for revising the tax system?
What were Trump’s campaign promises?
Broadly speaking, Trump promised to cut taxes across the board and suggested that economic growth will make up for any lowering of tax revenues.
Corporate taxes
One of Trump’s main proposals was to lower corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 15 percent, a change that he said would be “revenue neutral” based on the economic growth he anticipated during his presidency.
Individual taxes
There are three main areas in which Trump proposed to change the system of taxation for individuals.
Reducing the number of tax brackets
Currently, there are seven tax brackets that are organized based on income, with the lowest bracket at 10 percent for single filers earning less that $9,275 and married couples filing jointly who earn less than $18,550. The highest bracket is for individuals earning over $415,050 or joint filers making more than $466,950—these filers pay 40 percent. Trump’s plan would reduce the number of brackets to three, with top earners (individuals making $112,500 or more) paying 33 percent tax rates and the lowest earners (those making less than $37,500 individually) paying 12 percent.
Eliminating the Head of Household filing category
The IRS filing category of Head of Household would be eliminated. This category is for those who are considered unmarried and have paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home and who have also lived with one a qualifying child or relative. According to Time magazine, this filing category is used by about 23 million single parents.
Increasing the standard deduction
The standard deduction for individuals would be raised to $15,000 from $6,300 currently. This is intended to offset the plan to eliminate personal exemptions. In addition, any individual making less than $250,000 (or married couples making less than $500,000) could deduct the average cost of child care in their state for kids under 13.
Travel ban updates
Challenges to Trump’s revised executive order on immigration are set to be heard in multiple courts today, one day before it is scheduled to go into effect.
- Hawaii’s Attorney General, Doug Chin, filed a lawsuit against the order last week, claiming, “The new executive order is resulting in the establishment of religion in the state of Hawaii contrary to its state constitution; it is inflicting immediate damage to Hawaii's economy, educational institutions, and tourism industry; and it is subjecting a portion of the state's citizens to second-class treatment and discrimination, while denying all Hawaii residents the benefits of an inclusive and pluralistic society," attorneys for the state argued in court filings.”
- In Maryland, the National Immigration Law Center and the ACLU have filed a lawsuit that asks the federal courts to block the executive order entirely. The suit, filed on behalf of refugee resettlement organizations, claims that the executive order lacks a legitimate reason for halting refugee resettlement.
- The state of Washington has filed for the temporary restraining order that was placed on the original travel ban to also be applied to the revised version. Judge James Robart has a hearing scheduled for this afternoon Washington was joined by six other states—Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, New York, and California—in this new filing.
Read on for details of the revised executive order on immigration.
See also
- You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition
- Donald Trump presidential transition team
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