Republican Presidential Donald Trump gave a speech in Detroit that unveiled his economic policies if he is elected in November.
But some people aren’t buying it.
“I am proposing an across-the-board income tax reduction, especially for middle-income Americans,” said Trump during his speech. “This will lead to millions of new good-paying jobs. The rich will pay their fair share, but no one will pay so much that it destroys jobs, or undermines our ability to compete.”
Trump continued, “Our current tax code is so burdensome and complex that we waste 9 billion hours a year in tax code compliance. My plan will reduce the current number of brackets from seven to three, and dramatically streamline the process. We will work with House Republicans on this plan, using the same brackets they have proposed: 12, 25 and 33 percent. For many American workers, their tax rate will be zero.”
Trump’s speech also called for squelching regulation in the private sector, trade reform and reenergizing the coal industry.
In a press release, a union leader called Trump’s speech deceitful and offensive.
“Donald Trump has spent his life getting rich by hurting working people,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a statement. “Now he returns to Michigan for an economic speech almost one year to the day after he suggested automakers move production from Michigan to states with lower wages. It’s ironic, deceitful and simply offensive.”
Trump also said he would provide more funds to law enforcement and rebuild the military. Trump also wants to roll back Obama’s health-care victories.
“One of my first acts as president will be to repeal and replace disastrous Obamacare, saving another 2 million American jobs,” said Trump.
“Donald Trump will say he speaks for all Americans, but his all white, all male, Wall Street banker economic team proves his intentions,” stated Trumka. “Trump has chosen to get his real advice from people just like him—people who have made millions off the backs of hardworking families.”
Another union question how a Trump White House would take care of lost tax revenue.
“Long on budget-busting tax breaks for the wealthy with no clear way to pay for it, Trump’s plan would cost nearly $12 trillion in revenues over 10 years, both liberal and conservative economists estimate,” read a statement by the American Federation of Teachers. “Mark Zandi and a team of economists at Moody’s Analytics warn that the plan, if executed, would trigger a long recession, spark huge job losses, usher in skyrocketing interest rates and dampen prospects for long-term growth.”
Lawrence Mishel, of the Economic Policy Institute, said that Trump’s economic proposal “won’t help the bottom 44 percent of families that pay no income taxes.”
In an analysis of the Trump’s proposed policies, Elaine Maag of the Tax Policy Center (affiliated with the Urban Institute & Brookings Institution), said that although Trump has pointed out real problems that working class families have, he isn’t providing any real solutions.