OCTOBER 9, 2015

     The conservative Tax Foundation, which has been scoring candidates' tax proposals throughout the race, found that Donald Trump's changes to the individual tax code would add $10.2 trillion to the deficit using traditional scoring methods, his corporate tax cuts would add $1.54 trillion and his proposal to eliminate the estate tax would add another $238 billion.  Trump's plan would lower the top tax bracket for wealthier Americans to 25% from 39.5% today and the top corporate tax rate to 15% from 35% today, which it would partially offset with some changes to deductions. Trump has also claimed his plan would add some 31 million households to the substantial number of Americans who pay no money - or gain money through credits - in income tax, bringing the total to 75 million filers.

    In addition, the gains from the cuts would disproportionately benefit ultra-wealthy Americans like Trump, whose personal income, business earnings and inheritors all stand to gain from a number of its provisions. According to the analysis, the wealthiest 1% of Americans would see their after-tax incomes increase by 21.6% versus just 1.4% for the poorest 10%.

     For perspective, the same group pegged the cost of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's tax plan at $3.66 trillion, Sen. Marco Rubio's at over $4 trillion and Sen. Rand Paul's flat tax proposal at roughly $3 trillion.

    Trump's tax plan was not well thought out - poor tax advisers.  The best tax changes are either a consumption or flat tax.