Tax plan (kind of...)

Trump: My tax plan is 'going to cost me a fortune'

The billionaire businessman promises to close loopholes on the rich, lower overall rates, and free half of Americans from income tax.

By Ben Schreckinger and Nick Gass

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump took to the lobby of his famed Trump Tower on Monday morning and pledged to slap himself with a huge tax hike.

"It’s going to cost me a fortune, which is actually true," the Republican presidential front-runner candidate told reporters, as he unveiled a bold — and fairly detailed — tax plan, under which half of Americans would pay no federal income tax and the rich would face closed loopholes and slashed deductions.

The audacious statement, like many of Trump's proclamations, was hard to fact check. While it's true that the plan would knock out cherished tax breaks, such as the carried interest provision dear to some Wall Street money managers, he didn't specify many of the other deductions that the super rich would no longer enjoy under a Trump presidency. And many of the lost tax breaks will be offset by a pretty sizeable overall rate reduction.

Also knocking some wind out of the idea that Trump is going to stick it to the one percenters, Grover Norquist, the famed anti-tax advocate, gave the tax plan a wink. "Trump's plan is certainly consistent with the Taxpayer Protection Pledge," he said. "Trump has said he opposes net tax hikes and has made clear that the real problem is spending. This plan is a reform, not a tax hike."

Still, the rollout of the tax plan gave Trump an opportunity to underscore his reincarnation as a more serious presidential candidate, one who has now rolled out three policy platforms — an extreme take on immigration reform and a relatively tame position paper on gun rights, in additional to his tax proposal.

Trump presented his latest policy plan with flair. He was flanked by supporters, a Ross Perot-style chart of the plan and, further back, the entrance to Niketown in the building’s lobby.

Off to the side, the shop attendants at a Trump Store kiosk, selling a Trump’s male fragrance “success” and his book “How to Get Rich,” stood dutifully at attention.

The plan, which Trump said he formulated “with some of the leading scholars and economists and tax experts in this country,” would decrease the number of tax rates from the current seven to four, at 0, 10, 20 and 25 percent.

Under the proposal, individuals making less than $25,000 and married couples making less than $50,000 will not have to pay taxes. While 36 percent of American households do not pay income tax currently, that share would jump to 50 percent. The current highest income-tax rate—39.6 percent—would drop to 25 percent.

“It will be simple. It will be easy. It will be fair,” Trump declared. There would be no revenue shortfall because the economy will “grow rapidly” and “we’ll have something very special,” he said.

The plan would also eliminate the marriage penalty tax and the estate tax, which opponents label a “death tax.”

“A lot of families go through hell over the death tax,” Trump said. In recent years, the tax has only applied to estates worth more than $5 million, a fraction of a percent of the richest American estates.

Trump said his plan would lower businesses' tax rate to 15 percent, and would incentivize American corporations who have stashed cash overseas to repatriate it to the United States. He said that while some experts estimate the amount of cash held offshore is as much as $2.5 trillion, he suspects that the figure is even higher.

“Boy if it is we have hit pay dirt,” he said.

The plan would also bring jobs back to the United States that are currently going to China, Japan and Brazil, he said.

“These countries are all taking our jobs like we’re a bunch of babies.”

Trump went on to pan the public posture of other wealthy politicians, like Mitt Romney, towards their own taxes.

“I’m the only who’s honest,” he said. “I fight like hell to pay as little as possible. Can I say that? I’m not a politician.”

Asked if he would continue his habit of contesting bills he receives from vendors in office, Trump said he would, estimating that he could cut 20 percent or more from the federal budget.

“You can’t spend $2 million doing something you could for thousands,” said Trump of his spendthrift philosophy.

He then criticized plans to spend millions of dollars building a soccer field for inmates at Guantanamo Bay. “Why are they playing soccer is my question,” he said.

Asked to respond to the latest barb from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio that his campaign is a "freak show," Trump remarked that his Republican rival is a "lightweight" who "wouldn't know a trade deal from any other deal."

At one point, after Trump cited his lead in polls on the attribute of leadership, parts of the lobby erupted in applause and cheers, prompting Trump to comment, “Some of the press is actually clapping.”

POLITICO did not observe members of the press clapping, though several of the stern-looking men in dark suits with white “Trump” buttons on their lapels did applaud at the line, along with gathered Trump supporters.

One man in the press section did applaud Trump when he declared, “Putin is a nicer person than I am.”

After the press conference, the man identified himself as Alexander Van Breemen, 52, a Dutch tourist, who had wandered into the area reserved for reporters. “It’s a free country, no?” said Van Breeman. He described Trump’s campaign as “an interesting, how do you say, movement.”