President Trump’s Speech On Tax Reform: Separating Sales Pitch From Reality
Yesterday, President Trump and the “Big 6” — Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Kevin Brady, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, and Senate Finance Chairman Orin Hatch– released the GOP’s latest plan for tax reform. Hours later, the President gave a speech in Indiana to formerly introduce and promote the plan.
Now, some might suggest that the President is often prone to hyperbole. Or half-truths. Or outright lies. I’m not going to opine on that, because the reality is, there are many shades to the truth, and as George Costanza once said, “it’s not a lie if you believe it.”
But this is tax reform we’re talking about; a topic so foreign and frightening to most people that they need an advocate. Someone to parse through the empty rhetoric and leading language and tell them what’s real and what’s not. And when it comes to the President’s speech on tax reform, that someone is me.
So here’s what I’ve done. I’ve copied much of the text from yesterday’s speech below, with all of the President’s words in italics. I haven’t presented the entire speech, of course, because it would run for pages and pages, and also because no one really needs to read the word “tremendous” that many times in one sitting.
After the President’s comments, I have added my commentary, in regular type. My hope is to cut through the sales pitch and give it to you straight, so that you might understand what this plan really means to you and this great country. I hope it helps.
Continue reading on, Forbes.com
Authored by Tony Nitti, Withum Partner and writer for Forbes.com.
