Edward McCaffery says it’s important to reveal what’s in those returns, but far more important for Democrats to push for a real middle class tax cut and to eliminate loopholes benefiting the super rich
What might this look like? Without getting into the weeds, there are two broad approaches to take. One, Democrats can propose a real, and fiscally responsible, middle class tax cut — one that gives real benefits to working Americans and is paid for by asking for some payments from the wealthiest, who can now, like Jared Kushner, avoid all taxes.
Two, the Democrats can propose legislation that actually shuts down loopholes that the rich, like Kushner and his father-in-law, use to dodge paying taxes.
Sure, any such tax bill would be unlikely to get 50 votes in the Senate, or to get signed by President Trump, or to have a two-thirds majority in either chamber to override a presidential veto. So what? Both types of legislation would be good for the people right now, and Democrats would simply be doing their job, as they were elected to do, with either approach.
Republican opposition to either type of bill would only give the lie to the idea that Republicans care about average Americans when it comes to their tax policies or to protecting entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare. Entitlement programs are relevant because when tax policy creates deficits, as the Trump tax cut did, it puts all government spending programs at risk.
Proposing good tax policies to help average Americans and to rein in the excesses of the wealthiest might not be as sexy and headline-grabbing as a relentless quest for the holy grail of Trump’s tax returns. But good tax proposals would reflect Democrats exercising their Constitutional role to help the people who elected them with real issues, affecting real money. That would make for a better reality for all Americans, not just better reality television.
