I don't understand why they didn't move to higher taxes on the very, very wealthy. That would be politically expedient. It would go down well with everybody except David Bahnsen. Well, and me too. I'm I'm with David on this. And not only because I think it would be bad, bad policy. [00:00:16] Those people are already paying high level high rates of tax. 37% top rate of tax. I just don't want anybody in our audience to think that I want higher taxes on wealthy people. I'm just saying it would be politically expedient. That's all I'm saying. No, no, no, Stuart. Don't worry. [00:00:32] No one would make the mistake of thinking you personally would want to increase taxes on yourself as a television anchor who's probably raking in quite a bit of money in your television contract, but nonetheless give credit where credit is due because Fox business host Stuart Varney admitted the obvious. [00:00:50] Yesterday, he admitted that raising taxes on the ultra wealthy would be a popular thing to do. In fact, that's something that Trump realized as well, which is why he decided to sheepishly float the idea of increasing taxes on the ultra wealthy [00:01:07] in his big, beautiful bill. Let's talk a little bit about the fate of what happened when he made that proposal. So Republicans love, absolutely love giving handouts to the ultra rich and of course, their elite donors. So much so that, of course, they're refusing to do what's [00:01:24] politically popular in this situation. And look, if you go back to 2017 and you look at public opinion polling on Trump's big bill back then, his tax bill, it did not poll well. And it's because most Americans, although the media likes to treat them like they're [00:01:42] idiots, most Americans are pretty savvy. And while they might have gotten a little bit of a tax break, you know, as ordinary working Americans, the bulk, the disproportionate amount of savings on taxes, of course, went to the rich and the ultra wealthy. [00:01:59] So it would poll poorly for that reason. Now, Republicans hear what Trump has to say. They're like, yeah, maybe this would be politically popular. But remember, we're just we're whores for our donors. And our donors don't want to see their taxes raised. [00:02:16] And so, despite Trump briefly intimidatingly suggesting that GOP lawmakers should consider increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans, the House officially rejected the idea. It was not included in their version of the, you know, the tax cut and, [00:02:33] border funding bill that they've passed. And so the Senate is basically likely to do the same. That's my prediction. So we'll get to, what they're saying in just a moment. But the legislation House Republicans approved last week excluded the millionaire tax and other proposals to raise taxes on top earners. [00:02:50] Now, look, let's just pause for a second, because I want to always make clear that I don't believe in raising taxes for taxes sake, okay. I think the federal government and local governments, for sure. Do squander a lot of our resources. [00:03:08] It really depends on what the money is spent for. So if we're talking about raising taxes so we can send Israel another, like $26 billion military aid package. Yeah. I'm not interested. Regardless of where that tax money or revenue is going to come from. [00:03:23] However, we have a lot of problems in this country. A lot of problems that need resources to solve. I just wish we had the politicians who were laser focused on solving those issues, because in that case, I can turn to our tax system and say, no, no, we absolutely need to raise taxes [00:03:40] because we need to fund this program. I'll give you a specific example. There's a lot of concern that our Social Security program will be insolvent soon. Well, there's a very specific tax. It's the Social Security tax that you can see on your pay stub. Every time you get paid, you see how much of your earnings [00:03:57] go towards Social Security. Well, as we've talked about multiple times on this show before, there is a cap in regard to the amount of income. An individual can get taxed for Social Security. Why don't we raise that cap? Maybe even eliminate that cap. [00:04:12] I don't know, but raise the cap to ensure that Social Security is fully funded and and solvent. Easy. Okay, now let's get back to this big, beautiful bill, because I have some more details that I want to share with you. So now we're learning that, the half baked effort to, include, [00:04:30] these measures to raise taxes on the rich, were put to bed by none other than a gentleman you might have heard of. We've talked about him on the show before, but it's been some time. His name is Grover Norquist, and he's an anti-tax advocate, an activist. [00:04:46] He is a particularly loathsome person. I'm not a fan of his, he likes to launder his reputation by talking about how he likes to go to Burning Man, as if, like, you know, he's a human being who likes to have fun and do good things. In reality, he likes to, strip the federal government of necessary resources [00:05:06] so it can't function properly. And he has no problem with ordinary working Americans paying a disproportionate amount of their income toward taxes, while the ultra wealthy basically get away with, you know, in some cases paying close to nothing because of some of the deductions [00:05:22] they're able to take advantage of. So Trump went to his daddy, Grover Norquist. He's like, daddy, I'm thinking about doing something politically popular. I'm thinking about cutting taxes on working Americans. Okay. That's that. That would be popular. [00:05:38] But also in order to do something about this disastrous debt that we have in the United States, a debt so high that we spent $1 trillion last year servicing, I want to do something about that. So maybe I should raise taxes on the ultra rich. [00:05:53] And you want to know what his daddy told him? No, don't do it. You think Grover Norquist is going to give Trump permission to raise taxes on the rich when his entire purpose in life has been to essentially be an activist, to prevent that from happening? [00:06:09] Of course, Norquist was going to tell him no. And you know what? Trump took orders and so he dropped it. Now, according to the Washington Post, on May 7th, Norquist got a call from President Trump about 15 minutes before he boarded a flight to Poland. In the time before the plane took off, Trump gave his arguments [00:06:28] for raising taxes on the rich. Norquist pushed back, arguing that such a maneuver would prove a politically disastrous attack on the small business community. He said of the call. Okay, but if you're worried about the small business community, of which I don't [00:06:45] believe at all when it comes to Grover Norquist, there are certain deductions. There are certain ways you could help small businesses out. We're talking about the ultra rich here. The fact of the matter is, Grover Norquist doesn't want to see taxes raised on the ultra rich. It's never enough for them. Never enough. [00:07:03] So shortly after landing in Warsaw, Norquist received a call from House speaker Mike Johnson. You know, just to ease any panic that Norquist might have. It's going to be okay. Norquist, we're looking out for you. So what did Mike Johnson have to say? [00:07:18] Well, that tax increase for the ultra rich would not be in the final legislation. Now, let me just pause for a second, because the fact of the matter is, while there might be a populist wing of the GOP electorate, [00:07:34] the voters I want to be absolutely clear in saying that the Republican Party still is what it has always been. The Pro-corporate party, the party of millionaires, billionaires, the party that has no problem with working class Americans paying a disproportionate amount [00:07:50] of their income toward federal taxes. But they will fight like hell to ensure that the ultra rich pay far less percentage wise when it comes to their income. So Norquist even bragged about the influence he has over our politicians, [00:08:06] as if like, it's something to really be proud about, as if it's really difficult to legally bribe our politicians to get them to do whatever they want. Now, he says, we showed how weak and nonexistent this quote unquote movement [00:08:22] for higher taxes is within the Republican Party. The House and the Senate have been in lockstep. This is not happening, period. But I'm glad we had this movement because it allowed us to expose this little cancer cell in the party, pushing the idea. [00:08:40] So Grover Norquist, I mean, you heard it here first, folks. Grover Norquist believes that Donald Trump, the president of the United States, is a cancer cell. He's the one who pitched the idea of increasing taxes on the ultra wealthy, didn't he? [00:08:55] Grover Norquist just called Trump cancer. And I just want to know, is Trump going to take that? First of all, why are you taking orders from Grover Norquist? I thought you were the president of the United States. Pretty pathetic, isn't it? But let me continue. [00:09:12] So he's right that the republican movement for higher taxes is weak. I think it's nonexistent. I mean, Republican politicians are not engaged in a movement to raise taxes on the ultra rich. They never have. They never will be. [00:09:27] While the tax increase or increases were nixed, the legislation passed by the House that was passed by the House, did include several measures that disproportionately benefit Americans in the top income brackets. So I want to get into the details on that. [00:09:43] So it extends the tax cut. Republicans first approved in 2017 for the highest income bracket, those earning more than $626,000 per year. The bill passed by the House also extends the estate tax, which would [00:09:59] not apply to fortunes of up to 15 million or $30 million for married couples. Oh thank God, thank God. I mean, how would how would that married couple survive if that $30 million they inherited was taxed, How would they survive? [00:10:15] They'd be out on the streets. Well, think about the rich people who have inherited all that money. I mean, thank God Grover Norquist saved them. Now, because of those provisions, the wealthiest Americans will benefit. [00:10:31] And the poorest, obviously will be hit, especially if they rely on our social safety net. Take a look. So take a look at this chart. That longest line there is how much the bill would increase income for the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans, while actually reducing income [00:10:49] for the poorest 10%. This is according to Penn's Wharton School of Business. If you're in the top 20% of Americans, you're going to get roughly a 3.7% increase in your in your after tax income, really all from these tax cuts. [00:11:04] But if you go all the way to the bottom and everything in between essentially leads you to the bottom, if you're in the bottom 20%, you actually lose $800. Why do you lose $800? You get a very small tax cut and you get a very large cut in Medicaid and these other [00:11:20] benefits that we were just talking about that affects the 20% disproportionately. So this is a highly regressive bill that essentially favors the wealthy, doesn't do much for the middle class and hurts the poor. Thank God. [00:11:36] I mean, all those poor people, do they really need that health care? They didn't need that health care. The rich people, though, they needed the tax cuts. They needed the tax breaks. Grover Norquist is right. Screw the poor people. Screw all those kids who might want to, you know, see a dentist [00:11:52] or might have an issue with chickenpox or an infection and might need to see a doctor who cares about them. We got to give the money to the rich. I mean, they do so many great things with it, like invest in the crypto industry. That really benefits society, doesn't it? Anyway, let's keep going. [00:12:11] So the biggest beneficiaries of the bill would be those earning between 400 and Thousand 801.1 million per year, a category primarily composed of small business owners and high income professionals, professionals such as lawyers and doctors. [00:12:27] According to Kyle Pomerleau, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, which is actually a center right think tank. So a center right think tank is admitting, yeah, high income earners are going to be the ones who benefit the most from these tax breaks. [00:12:43] Now after that, though, the top 1% are the biggest winners. And that's based on the same analysis. Analysts say Republicans in the Senate are even less likely to back higher taxes on the top income bracket, and that really should come as no surprise. [00:12:59] The upper chamber or higher chamber tends to be a little more conservative than the House of Representatives, so it doesn't surprise me at all that they're less likely to approve additional taxes or higher taxes on the ultra rich. Now, there was some hope that right wing populists like Steve Bannon [00:13:18] would be able to convince Trump to put more pressure on lawmakers to move in the direction of increasing taxes on the rich. And look, I probably would agree that Bannon is the one in his ear who put that idea in his head in the first place. But let's just make one thing clear. [00:13:34] When Donald Trump wants something, he gets it. He fights for it. He'll stop at nothing. Now, when it came to the House of Representatives passing the bill, homeboy was in the House. Okay. Bullying Republican lawmakers every day until they had the votes to pass it. [00:13:55] If he really wanted to raise taxes on the rich, he would have done it. He would have gotten it done. So I don't think he actually wanted it. I think he understands the political benefits. I think he understands that, you know, at least engaging in some behavior that gives [00:14:15] his base the idea that he is a populist is beneficial for the Trump administration, but he didn't fight for it. He doesn't really want it. And he probably thinks, whatever, I can probably spin this and make my base happy anyway, even though the bulk of this bill disproportionately, [00:14:33] you know, benefits the richest among us. Now, Michael Strain, who's an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, also argues that what we're seeing is the center of gravity in the Republican Party is still much closer to where it was under Mitt Romney than is commonly thought. [00:14:52] There's support for Trumpian nationalism, but it's not the dominant disposition in the way a lot of people think it is. Rather than there being no Republicans who want to boost taxes on the rich, they're just, very few. [00:15:08] And look, guys, I want to reiterate, we're talking about the Republican politicians, the political class. We're not talking about the voters. I would venture to say that if you sat down and talked to a huge portion of Trump supporters. They're sick of corporate greed. [00:15:24] They're sick of the tax breaks that the ultra rich get to enjoy. I mean, they they rail against the elite constantly. And the reason why a lot of them left the Democratic Party is because they were under the impression, an accurate impression that the Democratic Party abandoned the working class. [00:15:40] But the big scam here is that the Trump administration and some Republicans really positioned themselves as the party of the working class. But as we know, talk is cheap. You have to actually look at their actions. And the Republican political class has no interest in looking out [00:15:57] for the working class at all. So I have a lot of empathy for voters. I don't have any malice in my heart for them because, I mean, look, we don't have a lot of good options, as you can imagine. So they're doing the best with what we had in this last election cycle. But my ire is absolutely directed at these [00:16:16] disgusting, phony politicians who like to fashion themselves as economic populists when in reality they're anything but. They're little whores for their donors. Okay. And they themselves are rich. They themselves don't want to pay higher taxes. [00:16:33] They're not going to raise their own taxes. I mean, think about how many of these politicians on both sides of the aisle have been in Congress for, in some cases, decades. Really? You're going to become a multi-millionaire earning $170,000 a year in salary? [00:16:49] Yeah. Okay. So, Senator Josh Hawley told reporters last week that Trump is still pushing legislation to raise taxes on private equity groups. But honestly, I would take that with a grain of salt. I don't think Trump is pressuring anyone to raise taxes on anything. [00:17:05] Okay. So I think he floated the idea. Norquist, his daddy shut it down. No increased taxes on the ultra rich. They'll be able to continue hoarding their wealth to the detriment of this country. So congratulations. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. [00:17:21] Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.