Posted on 08/07/2015 2:01:35 PM PDT by arista
Donald Trump takes a lot of flak for failing to offer specific policy proposals, but there was a time when he offered a very specific tax plan -- one that raised taxes on the wealthy so much it might have made Bernie Sanders blush.
In classic Trump fashion, the plan was big and bold. If enacted, Trump's plan would have been biggest tax hike, in total raw dollars, in history. In a word, it would have been huge.
The year was 1999 and Trump was toying with the idea of running for President as a third party candidate. The idea, which Trump says he no longer supports, was to impose a one-time tax of 14.25 percent on every American worth more than $10 million and raise exactly enough money to pay off the debt.
Trump himself would have had to pay more than $700 million. But he didn't care. He calculated his plan would erase the entire national debt and save the government millions in interest payments, allowing tax cuts for everybody else.
Here's how Trump described the plan on "Good Morning America" on Nov. 10, 1999:
"Well, basically, this would be a one-time tax, 14.25 percent against people with a net worth of over 10 million," Trump said. "It would pay off in its entirety the national debt of $5.7 trillion, and you'd save $200 billion a year. So taxes for the middle class would go way down, the estate and inheritance tax totally wiped out, and the Social Security system would be saved."
In a screaming front page headline that same day, the New York Daily News featured a photograph of Mr. Trump with the words, “SOAK THE RICH: Trump's way-out plan to end nat'l debt...Proposes one-shot $5.7 trillion tax on the super-wealthy.”
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
“The rich alone use imported articles, and on these alone the whole taxes of the General Government are levied [emphasis added]. … Our revenues liberated by the discharge of the public debt, and its surplus applied to canals, roads, schools, etc., the farmer will see his government supported, his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise by the contributions of the rich alone, without his being called on to spend a cent from his earnings.” —Thomas Jefferson to Thaddeus Kosciusko, 1811.
In fact, not only were most of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention wealthy, but George Washington, president of the Convention, was a Bill Gates of his time thanks to Martha.
I say that we let the federal government be the play toy of the rich. After all, it was established by rich people.
But we also need to repeal the ill-conceived 17th Amendment and allow state legislators to uniquely elect senators as the Founding States had intended, senators who will protect their states by killing bills which steal state powers and state revenues associated with those powers.
Having failed to portray Trump as a crazed right winger, they are now desperately trying to portray him as a crazed left winger. And as I recall, Gov. Reagan signed a pretty big tax hike in CA. Doesn’t always mean much.
So what are you gonna do when it's a Trump/Cruz ticket?
It’s a cult of personality. They like Trump, or the idea of Trump, at least. And so they shape the reality of Trump to fit the idea, facts be damned. Trump says something they like? Great, he’s the best! Trump says something they don’t like? Well, we all change our mind, he’s still the best!
Let's substitute Obama for Trump:
"It doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t matter. To many of the people (including Progressives) who support Obama, what he says, what he has said, what he does, what he has done....none of that matters.
It’s a cult of personality. They like Obama, or the idea of Obama, at least. And so they shape the reality of Obama to fit the idea, facts be damned. Obama says something they like? Great, he’s the best! Obama says something they don’t like? Well, we all change our mind, he’s still the best!
The Dems have won the popular vote in five of the last six elections. Obama's vote totals in the two elections have been the highest two ever received by a Presidential candidate. The Dems don't seem to mind a cult of personality. Arguably, Obama has been the most trans-formative and influential President in history. He has been wildly successful in imposing his belief and value system on the entire country. In many cases, it will be impossible to reverse his policies. They may lead to our destruction, but his cult of personality has been very effective.
At least a Trump cult of personality will not be destructive. Unlike Obama, Trump loves this country.
This is like the eighty year old couple that got a divorce because he was with an Italian prostitute back in the ol’ W W 2
But I do know this. As a former NYer, I have followed Trump since he was just getting started. He was alway "what-you-see-is-what-you-get"...he's not someone who has ever played people.
He a very tough deal maker and hires the very best managers to run his portfolio and he is relentlessly unscripted and bullish.
But I just can't see how he is playing people.
He has definitely stepped into a vacuum created by Obama and liberals and the GOPe...but he is the genuine article.
BTW, he's not much of an ideologue, he's just a problem solver.
I was a Cruz supporter first and Walker second.
But if Trump makes this deal with America...so be it.
Awww, look at you, defending your fearless leader Mr. Trump with personal insults. How sweet. Mr. Trump would like that. YUUGE points for you.
So....Vote Trump, he’ll be our Obama!
Ugh.
Do you always go around making things up?
Why don’t you post a link or a quote to back up the things you say?
I was upset when Obama won both times. I don't cry (I would have if I could)...but I was depressed when I went to sleep every night.
Only recently have I begun to see a glimmer of hope. Yep, the very thing you fear is what gives me hope.
Never mind Single Payer health insurance and an expedited over-and-back amnesty for the non criminal illegals.
Nothing to see here.
Move along.
Go Trump go.
Ehh, I don’t really buy into the conspiracy theory that Trump is working with Bill Clinton to help Hillary’s campaign.
That said, based on reports of that Clinton-Trump call, I would not be surprised if Bill (a) recognized that a Trump candidacy (whether a Trump nomination, a third-party candidacy, or just going very far in the GOP primaries) could be beneficial to Hillary, (b) knew that Trump is driven by his ego above all else, and so (c) being the master manipulator that he is, played to Trump’s ego by encouraging him to run.
At least he would have been heavily impacted by his proposal
The Reps continue to do the same thing over and over again and get the same results. Dole, McCain, Romney. Maybe we should capitalize on a cult of celebrity. Trump has been a TV reality star for 12 years. The debate garnered an audience of 24 million, now the highest non-sports cable program of all time, the highest-rated cable news program of all time, and Fox News’s most-watched program ever.
Do you think the other candidates may have also benefited from such exposure? They should be thanking The Donald. Do you want to keep losing?
I vote in every election and I vote for the most conservative option on the ballot. I’d only vote for a write-in if they had a real campaign behind them and polling showed they were viable.
I’m not upset, I just vehemently disagree about Trump’s candidacy.
When Obama won? I wasn’t upset, I was angry. I lived in DC in 2008, and in NYC in 2012, in election precincts/districts that voted for Obama by huge (think 80+%) majorities. Let’s just say it took some time before I could look my neighbors in the eye again....
Yep. He'd probably govern like another wealthy northeastern businessman, Jon Corzine. If the government's running short on money, raise taxes. That'll solve the problem.
We need a candidate who has core beliefs, not a "problem-solver." If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
I might be wrong, of course, but I don't think you have to worry about him.
He's not a liberal...but then, he's not an ideologue either.
He and Cruz and he and Palin are close. That tells you something.
Ok, I get that. What are you going to do when the GOP ticket is Trump/Cruz?
“And so they shape the reality of Trump to fit the idea, facts be damned.”
It is just that most of us don’t have access to Trump’s complete range of facts, thoughts, statements, beliefs, opinions, and sub-conscious leanings, and the required fifteen degrees in psychology and divination to assess someone from a considerable distance, as you evidently do.
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