Former U.S. President Trump promised at a recent campaign rally that if he wins re-election, he will once again significantly cut personal income taxes. The tax cuts will benefit Americans from all walks of life, including the upper, middle, and lower classes, in stark contrast to current President Biden’s calls for increased taxes on American businesses and the wealthy.
On May 11, during a large rally held in Wildwood – a coastal town in New Jersey, Trump stated, “I won’t raise taxes like Biden, I will give you a Trump-style big tax cut for the middle class, upper class, lower class, and business class.”
The tax exemption policy on individual income taxes that Trump signed in late 2017 during his previous term is set to expire by the end of 2025. Regardless of whether Trump or Biden wins the White House in this year’s November election, they will face negotiations on how to extend this policy.
The upcoming election is expected to be a rematch between Biden and Trump. Biden has expressed his intention to repeal the tax cuts for families with incomes exceeding $400,000 per year from Trump’s tax cut law and to raise tax rates on wealthy Americans and large corporations.
Also set to expire by the end of 2025 are the estate tax exemptions and deductions for business owners included in Trump’s tax cut law.
Trump’s latest remarks on May 11 further underscore his emphasis on comprehensive tax cuts for individuals across all levels of American society, including high-income earners and businesses. Currently, Trump, as a Republican presidential candidate, has not yet released his official tax cut plan.
According to Bloomberg, earlier this year Trump was considering making the individual income tax exemption policy from his 2017 tax cut law permanent, while keeping the corporate tax rate at 21%.
In 2017, Trump initially proposed reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%, but had to compromise to 21% after negotiations with Congress. This 21% corporate tax was set to be permanent in the 2017 tax cut law.
Insiders revealed to Bloomberg that Trump’s 2024 campaign plan also involves strengthening tariffs and reducing regulations on industries such as oil and natural gas to reduce living costs for Americans and protect job opportunities for them.
During the New Jersey rally, Trump mentioned his promise to impose a 200% tariff on certain imported cars as he recalled a conversation with a senior executive in the automotive industry who was building a factory in Mexico. Reportedly, the imported cars referred to by Trump mainly come from China, including those entering the U.S. through Mexico. This move aims to protect the American automobile industry and job opportunities in the sector.
The Biden administration is also preparing to significantly increase tariffs on electric cars from China in the coming days.
At the New Jersey rally, Trump told the crowd, “I said, ‘I’m going to put a 200% tariff on every car that comes in.'”
Trump also stated that he would halt the offshore wind power project in New Jersey.
Trump’s large campaign rally in New Jersey has drawn attention because New Jersey is a typically Democratic state. During the 2020 election, Biden led Trump by 16 percentage points in the state.
However, some observers believe that this move could be aimed at attracting Jewish voters, as New Jersey has the largest Jewish community in the United States. Biden’s actions that have favored Hamas-aligned left-wing activists in conflicts with Israel might anger many American Jews.
Furthermore, in multiple campaign speeches, Trump’s economic policies mentioned have stirred nostalgia among people for the low inflation and low gasoline prices during his presidency. Americans also have more trust in Trump’s policies benefiting the U.S. economy and lowering inflation. According to ABC News/Ipsos poll data from May 5, 46% of Americans trust Trump on these issues, compared to 32% trusting Biden.
Moreover, a Gallup poll released on April 30 found that Americans’ confidence in the economy in April was at -29, down 9 percentage points from March’s -20.
The Gallup Economic Confidence Index reflects public views on the current economic situation, ranging from -100 to +100. If everyone perceives the current economic situation as good, the confidence index is positive; if everyone sees it as bad, the index falls into negative territory.
In February 2020, during Trump’s tenure, the Gallup Economic Confidence Index was +41, but with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the index plummeted to -32 in April of the same year. Since then, except for two brief returns to above zero in April and June 2021, the index has remained negative.
The index hit its lowest point in October 2023 at -41 in the past year.