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Robert Reich - On Thursday, Trump met at the Business Roundtable’s Washington headquarters with over 80 CEOs, including Apple’s Tim Cook, JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, and Walmart’s Doug McMillon. Trump reportedly promised the CEOs he’d cut corporate taxes even further and curtail business regulations if elected president. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts reduced the rate of corporate income taxes from 35 percent to 21 percent. That has cost the nation $1.3 trillion. Those tax cuts, along with the tax cuts put in place by George W. Bush, are the primary reason the national debt is rising as a percentage of the economy.

What have corporations done with the money they’ve saved? They haven’t invested it or used it to raise wages. Nothing has trickled down to average workers. A large portion has gone into stock buybacks. The year after the tax cut went into effect, corporations bought back a record $1 trillion of their shares of stock. Buybacks raise stock prices — and, not incidentally, CEO compensation, which is largely in shares of stock.

Making Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent — as the Business Roundtable seeks — will cost $4 trillion over the next 10 years, $400 billion per year — and cause the debt to soar. Yet the CEOs that Trump met with last week have been thriving under Biden. Corporate profits are way up. Stocks are at near-record levels. Inflation has plummeted. Industries like energy that appeared to be at risk from Biden’s policies are doing well. So why are these CEOs attracted to Trump, whose antics are likely to destabilize the economy?...Kathy Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City (a nonprofit that represents the city’s top business leaders) relates that Republican billionaires have told her “the threat to capitalism from the Democrats is more concerning than the threat to democracy from Trump.”

NBC News - The impending expiration of major parts of the 2017 Trump tax cuts has President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump — and members of their parties in Congress — split over whether to extend them. Biden said he wants to raise taxes on the wealthy if he is elected this fall. Trump has promised even deeper cuts if he returns to the White House. The scheduled expiration isn't until the end of 2025, meaning the outcome will be decided by whoever ends up controlling the White House and Congress. Still, both candidates are bringing up the topic on the campaign trail.

Biden has promised to end tax breaks for incomes above $400,000, while vowing not to raise taxes for those making less... Meanwhile, Trump has touted his 2017 tax cuts on the campaign trail and has promised he'll bring "the biggest tax cut"  —  something many Republicans want to see.

 

Trump is also floating the idea of ending taxes on money earned from tips — but, so far, it's unclear whether the talking point will materialize as a serious policy plan. Plus, several influential Republicans said they're skeptical of the idea. 

Biden's goal of undoing tax cuts for people with incomes above $400,000 will be easier said than done, though, and a concrete policy proposal hasn't been fleshed out yet. Read the full story here.

• The IRS estimates it will raise more than $50 billion over the next decade by closing a loophole often exploited by wealthy filers seeking to avoid paying taxes.