Former President Donald Trump is being advised to pursue significant new tax reforms in a possible second administration if he wins the Republican nomination and presidential election in 2024. The tax cuts would come as a follow-up to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which, among other things, lowered the corporate tax rate to 21%.
Trump's 2017 tax policy was the largest overhaul of the tax code in three decades. Conservative institutions continue to point to the cuts as one of Trump's biggest successes.
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While the former president hasn't committed to the specific tax cuts he plans to make if elected, he is being advised by several trusted economic experts, including one of his previous senior economic advisers, Stephen Moore, and former Director of the National Economic Council and Fox Business host Larry Kudlow.
Both of the men were in attendance at a recent meeting at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Also invited was Arthur Laffer, who has long advised Republican presidents on economic policy, known most prominently for his work on former President Ronald Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board throughout his tenure. However, Laffer did not attend.
Trump was pitched economic policy ideas for a possible next administration, including some from Moore. Building off Trump's previous tax cuts, Moore suggested that Trump lower the corporate tax rate all the way to 15% and also get rid of credits and deductions.
Moore's plan included a 10% tariff on goods imported to the U.S. from any other country proposed by Trump. Per Moore, the revenue from that proposal could be used to "reduce the tax on things that are made here in the U.S."
Moore emphasized that Trump has not signed off on any of the policy suggestions from his advisers. His proposal is something he presented to the former president for consideration. According to Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller, “President Trump has not yet committed to specific tax cut numbers for his second term economic agenda, and his focus will be on how best to help American workers. Stay tuned.”
While Laffer didn't attend the meeting (he doesn't like group meetings), he had some thoughts on the proposed 15% corporate rate.
"If they dropped the corporate rate to 15%, there would be no need for revenues," Laffer said. "The whole Tax Cuts and Jobs Act raised money, didn't cost it. You don't need anything to pay for it."
The 83-year-old economist said such a policy would "make the U.S. about the lowest in the world."
"That would make us really competitive. That'd be great," he said.
According to Laffer, international businesses would be prompted to move to the U.S. due to a friendly business environment and American businesses would be drawn back. "God, it would be terrific for the U.S.," he said.
His non-attendance at the Bedminster meeting had nothing to do with his willingness to work with Trump, whom he greatly admires. Instead, Laffer doesn't believe group meetings are productive. As to whether he would meet with Trump one-on-one, he said he definitely would.
"If he is the next president," he said, "I think he can do a better job than anyone ever has done," noting that he is speaking strictly in terms of the economy.
"In the first three years, he did better than Reagan did," he said.
"In this century so far, this century, he's way ahead of all the rest — miles ahead. No comparison to [former presidents George W. Bush], [Barack] Obama, and Biden. Just none," Laffer said. "And he did a better job in the first three years of his presidency than Reagan did. And Reagan did not get hit with a pandemic, Trump did."
Of the meeting, he said that other attendees included former acting Director of the Domestic Policy Council Brooke Rollins, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and possibly former Senior Adviser to the President Kevin Hassett.
In describing his pitch, Moore said, "why don't we have a tax system that really oriented our taxes towards lowering taxes on domestic producers and increasing taxes on producers that are foreign? That's the general concept of this whole plan."
Moore explained that Trump wants to make his 2017 tax cuts permanent, and Moore's idea would be in addition to that.
He reiterated that these ideas are "very preliminary."
Regarding the proposal that was reported by the Washington Post, Miller said: “President Trump built the greatest economy in American history, with low inflation and record job growth, in a manner that bucked ‘conventional wisdom’ from the globalist elites. Now there are many ideas coming in about how to undo the damage Joe Biden has done, and President Trump’s America First economic focus remains how we create more higher-paying jobs for American workers, and he will do whatever it takes to make our Country competitive again.”
Following the report, Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said: “Donald Trump is plotting to bring back the failed, trickle-down policies of his first term that lined the pockets of his ultra-wealthy friends and created incentives for corporations to ship American jobs overseas. This is the story of the Trump economy — blowing up the deficit to help out his wealthy friends at the expense of hardworking Americans and their families. Bidenomics is undoing the damage Trump wrought by growing the economy from the bottom up and middle out, creating millions of middle-class jobs, lowering costs for families and all the while ensuring the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share. That’s a contrast we’re more than willing to take going into 2024.”
Asked if he would consider advising Trump on economic policy if he's elected, Laffer didn't rule it out, but he made it very clear that he is 83 years old.
If he were to advise the former president, the next most important thing, aside from the corporate tax rate, would be medical transparency. "Radical transparency could reduce costs in healthcare by over a trillion dollars and increase life expectancy by as much as four years," he said.
"He did that executive order. He did it already. He just needs to have it enforced," he added, referring to Trump's "An America-First Healthcare Plan" executive order signed near the end of his term. The order, informed by Laffer, requires the Department of Health and Human Services to keep beneficiaries updated on each hospital's billing quality, specifically whether it complies with the Hospital Price Transparency Final Rule. It also prompts Hospital Compare to show if the hospital provides itemized receipts for services and how frequently legal action is taken by each hospital against patients because of outstanding bills.
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However, many hospitals have ignored the rule. A 2021 report found almost all of them do not comply with the price transparency rule. According to the report completed by patient advocates, 471 of the 500 hospitals reviewed, all subject to the rule, didn't entirely disclose prices or rates negotiated with insurers.
Trump's decision to seek insight from trusted economic advisers comes as he is seen as the best primary candidate to handle the economy by Republican-aligned voters in a recent CNN poll. According to the survey, 69% believe the former president would be better capable of addressing the economy than his primary competitors.