{"id":1049827,"date":"2024-11-27T09:28:28","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T14:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1049827"},"modified":"2024-11-29T11:38:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T16:38:30","slug":"trump-taps-kevin-hassett-to-give-tax-handouts-to-the-ultra-wealthy-on-the-backs-of-working-families-and-americas-seniors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-taps-kevin-hassett-to-give-tax-handouts-to-the-ultra-wealthy-on-the-backs-of-working-families-and-americas-seniors\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Taps Kevin Hassett to Give Tax Handouts to the Ultra-Wealthy on the Backs of Working Families and America\u2019s Seniors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In response to Donald Trump picking Kevin Hassett to lead the National Economic Council, <\/em>DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe last time Kevin Hassett had a say in our economy, he helped Donald Trump roll out a disastrous MAGAnomics tax scam that rigged the economy for the ultra-rich on the backs of hardworking Americans. Now, Trump is bringing Hassett back to enact his devastating Project 2025 plans to raise middle class taxes, hike costs, and cut programs like Social Security and Medicare \u2014 but Democrats are ready to stand up to Trump\u2019s all-out assault against hardworking Americans\u2019 pocketbooks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEW: Donald Trump is tapping Kevin Hassett to carry out his disastrous Project 2025 economic agenda as head of the National Economic Council.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNBC<\/a>: \u201cPresident-elect Donald Trump picked Kevin Hassett to lead the National Economic Council, a role that puts him at the center of the administration\u2019s policy-making discussions from trade to taxes and deregulation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hassett helped shape Trump\u2019s MAGAnomics tax scam that rigged the economy for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cA longtime conservative economist, Hassett helped shape the 2017 Republican tax law and has been a staunch defender of the president\u2019s policies on other issues<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times<\/a>: \u201cIn the administration, <\/strong>[Hassett] has been a champion of the corporate tax cuts <\/strong>that Mr. Trump signed into law in late 2017 and a stalwart optimist about the economic growth those tax cuts could spur for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201cKevin Hassett Defends Tax Cuts Amid Slowing Business Investment\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 which didn\u2019t cut taxes for working Americans but helped raise corporate executive salaries dramatically.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities<\/a>: \u201cTrump Administration officials claimed their centerpiece corporate tax rate cut would \u2018very conservatively\u2019 lead to a $4,000 boost in household income. New research shows that workers who earned less than about $114,000 on average in 2016 saw \u2018no change in earnings\u2019 from the corporate tax rate cut, while top executive salaries increased sharply.  <\/strong>Similarly, rigorous research concluded that the tax law\u2019s 20 percent pass-through deduction, which was skewed in favor of wealthy business owners, has largely failed to trickle down to workers in those companies who aren\u2019t owners.<\/strong> Like the Bush tax cuts before it, the 2017 Trump tax cut was a trickle-down failure.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like Trump, Hassett backs cuts to Social Security and Medicare.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judy Woodruff, PBS Newshour<\/a>: \u201cI mean you not only argue, Kevin Hassett, that belts should be tightened, you argue for much deeper cuts in entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare in this country<\/strong>, and the equivalent programs in Europe.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hassett: \u201cYeah that\u2019s right<\/strong>. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forbes<\/a>: \u201cTrump Floats \u2018Cutting\u2019 Spending On Entitlements Like Social Security And Medicare\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hassett loyally champions Trump\u2019s economic failures, despite admitting Trump\u2019s national sales tax proposals would actually hurt American consumers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Yorker<\/a>: \u201cWhen CNN\u2019s Poppy Harlow interviewed Hassett on Monday, she said to him, \u2018You have long been this big proponent of free trade, not really a big advocate for major tariffs. Is slapping tariffs of up to twenty-five per cent on Mexico good for the U.S. economy?\u2019 <\/strong>Hassett, a tax expert who advised John McCain, in 2000, and Mitt Romney, in 2012, knows perfectly well that tariffs are a form of taxation, which would hit American consumers and depress economic activity. But, rather than simply saying no to Harlow\u2019s question, he replied, \u2018What would be good for the U.S. economy would be to get the border situation under control, and it\u2019s clear Washington is so broken that Congress isn\u2019t going to help the President do that.\u2019 It was only after Harlow pressed him several times that Hassett conceded the obvious, saying, \u2018If we got to twenty-five per cent tariffs, there would be costs to that, for sure.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Examiner<\/a>: \u201cStill, he saw further escalation of the China-U.S. trade war through Trump administration tariffs hurting the U.S. economy.  \u2018As you get closer to the end [of the list of Chinese imports to sanction] then it hurts us too,\u2019 said Hassett\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hassett has suggested slashing the corporate tax rate to zero, and called the Buffett rule \u2013 which sought to ensure the wealthiest Americans paid a fair tax rate \u2013 a \u201cstupid rule\u201d that was \u201ceconomically illiterate.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hassett<\/a>: \u201cWell it\u2019s feasible if you make me dictator which is a really good idea by the way but let me dictate this for a day. I\u2019ll only mess with corporate [tax] code. I\u2019ll set it to zero.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg<\/a>: \u201cThe Buffett rule, amongst economists, could also be called the stupid rule,\u2019 said Kevin Hassett<\/strong>, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington group that supports free enterprise. \u2018It\u2019s basically just a back-door way to hike taxes on capital.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hassett<\/a>: \u201c[T]he \u2018Buffett Rule\u2019 is economically illiterate<\/strong>…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economic Policy Institute<\/a>: \u201cPresident Obama is again calling on Congress to implement the Buffett Rule, the principle that millionaires should not pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than what is paid by middle-class families. In short, the key element of tax fairness embodied by the Buffett Rule is that effective tax rates should rise with income<\/strong>. But, because high-income households often receive a large share of their income from dividends and capital gains, and because dividends and capital gains are taxed at lower rates than earned income, income tax rates actually start falling at high income levels. The Buffet Rule addresses this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to Donald Trump picking Kevin Hassett to lead the National Economic Council, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:  \u201cThe last time Kevin Hassett had a say in our economy, he helped Donald Trump roll out a disastrous MAGAnomics tax scam that rigged the economy for the ultra-rich on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1049827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTrump Taps Kevin Hassett to Give Tax Handouts to the Ultra-Wealthy on the Backs of Working Families and America\u2019s Seniors - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-taps-kevin-hassett-to-give-tax-handouts-to-the-ultra-wealthy-on-the-backs-of-working-families-and-americas-seniors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-27T14:28:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-29T16:38:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kate Sosland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kate Sosland\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-taps-kevin-hassett-to-give-tax-handouts-to-the-ultra-wealthy-on-the-backs-of-working-families-and-americas-seniors\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-taps-kevin-hassett-to-give-tax-handouts-to-the-ultra-wealthy-on-the-backs-of-working-families-and-americas-seniors\/\",\"name\":\"Trump Taps Kevin Hassett to Give Tax Handouts to the Ultra-Wealthy on the Backs of Working Families and America\u2019s Seniors - 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