No doubt, Americans love a rebel. Our nation’s very founding depended on rebels. But to really matter as a rebel, at least in politics and public service, you have to also get things done. Donald Trump’s advisers — whichever set he is listening to presently — ought to remind the new president of this fact. And this one: When it came to righteous anger over taxes, our Founding Fathers got things done.
On the campaign trail, Trump set as a top priority the overhaul of the nation’s bollocksed tax code. He said he understood the problems and knew where to find the fixes better than anyone — ever. Yet as Tax Day dawned this week, Trump’s tax overhaul looked doomed, in part because of his rebellion against a laudable and appropriate tradition honored for decades by other presidents, Democrats and Republicans both: releasing his tax returns for public inspection.
Trump’s taxing intransigence is giving congressional Democrats incredible leverage to block any tax reform legislation he supports. And while we’ve seen where trying to mimic the “party of no” strategy Republicans employed during the Obama years got Democrats in their ill-advised filibuster of Justice Neil Gorsuch, this fight is becoming increasingly bipartisan. Many Republicans are miffed about Trump’s refusal to turn over his tax filings as well, and more and more of them are calling for Trump to show the country the money.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is right to note that voting on any Trump tax plan would be fraught without having any idea how the changes would benefit the blustery billionaire and his family. Thousands of people in Denver and across the land gathered during the Easter weekend to .
Who can blame them? As we noted shortly after Election Day, Trump — that rascally rebel — is the , who would have placed the interests in a blind trust to prevent conflicts-of-interest questions exactly like the ones now drawing bipartisan consternation.
Playing the rebel also has hurt Trump in building the coalitions he needs, as the world saw recently with the spectacular failure to reform Obamacare.
What a pity. The nation’s tax code clearly needs updating. The president is right to try to take on the challenge.
And to those who don’t care about whether Trump turns over his tax filings, or even if he richly benefits from any tax code redo: What about the fact he’s losing on another front of this battle?
For despite his campaign-trail boasts, it turns out that Trump has no tax plan. As The New York Times reported this week, the , but none has emerged. Congressional Republicans haven’t yet settled on a plan either.
We get it that the businessman has never held elected office, and that he’s learning on the fly. No doubt thatap tough. But running the country and passing legislation means living with a better understanding of what it means to be a public servant.
Another Tax Day behind us, letap hope the rebel figures out how to support his cause.
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