Budget & Taxes

A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that six months after the passage of tax reform, it’s still not really catching on with voters. Just 31% support it to 38% who are opposed, with 30% not sure one way or the other.

“The core problem for Republicans with tax reform is that voters continue to be skeptical it’s actually going to help them on a personal level. Just 30% say they think it will help their family’s finances, to 33% who think it will hurt, and 25% who don’t think it will have an impact either way.”

Also interesting: “51% think it will mostly benefit the rich to 30% for the middle class, and just 7% for the poor.”

“Residents of some blue states may get a surprisingly big tax cut thanks to workarounds state lawmakers are crafting to subvert a controversial new cap on deductions for state and local taxes,” Politico reports.

“It’s a little noticed and unexpected dynamic in the partisan battle over the recent tax overhaul. The new SALT cap has been one of the biggest flashpoints, with Democrats from high-tax states complaining they were targeted by congressional Republicans.”

“Now, months after the law passed, Republicans are having trouble convincing voters that they’re really going to benefit from the cuts the law enacted. Meanwhile, lawmakers in blue states are magnifying the cuts with their workarounds.”

“The Congressional Budget Office estimates the government will take in $1.9 trillion less in revenue and spend $300 billion more over the next decade than the White House estimated under its latest budget proposal if the plan were enacted,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Deficits would total $9.5 trillion over the coming decade, or $2.3 trillion more than the White House estimates.”

A new Greenberg Quinlan Rosner (D) poll finds the popularity of the new tax law has dropped into net negatives, currently opposed by a 50% to 41% margin.

“Republican lawmakers are pushing back against President Trump’s request for Congress to cut $15 billion from programs including children’s health insurance and Ebola disaster relief, saying the vote could make them vulnerable to Democratic attacks in this year’s midterm campaign,” the Washington Post reports.

“A vote for the spending cuts could be helpful for House Republicans facing primary challenges from the right, but other Republicans, some facing tough midterm races, are balking, raising questions about whether the House will be able to pass the administration’s spending cut request at all.”

“As national Republicans scramble their resources for a high-stakes midterm election year, some of the party’s biggest and most reliable donors have quietly withheld their support for Senate and House Republican groups out of frustration with the new tax law,” CNN reports.

“The donors who have boycotted… are leaders of prominent hedge funds… Collectively, they have bristled at what they view as favored treatment for corporations under the law. While the corporate tax rate was slashed from 35% to 21%, hedge funds are largely taxed at the top individual rate, which ticked down from 39.6% to 37%.”

President Trump “is sending a plan to Congress that calls for stripping back more than $15 billion in previously approved spending, with the hope that it will temper conservative angst over ballooning budget deficits,” the Washington Post reports.

“Almost half of the proposed cuts would come from two accounts within the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that White House officials said expired last year or are not expected to be drawn upon. An additional $800 million in cuts would come from money created by the Affordable Care Act in 2010 to test innovative payment and service delivery models.”