As Donald Trump pivots to the general election battle, he's already walking back his tax plan, the most specific policy proposal he has released during the campaign.
"By the time it gets negotiated, it's going to be a different plan," Trump told George Stephanopoulos on ABC News' "This Week."
In Trumps tax plan, the wealthiest individuals would get a tax break, with the top tax rate dropping from 39.6 percent to 25 percent. But when pressed if he wants taxes on the wealthy to go up or down, he predicted that the top rate would be higher than the plan says.
"On my plan they're going down. But by the time it's negotiated, they'll go up," Trump said. "Look, when I'm negotiating with the Democrats, I'm putting in a plan. I'm putting in my optimum plan. It's going to be negotiated, George. It's not going to stay there. They're not going to say, 'There's your plan, let's approve it.' They're going to say, 'Let's see what we can do.'"
While Trump said he would like to keep everything in his plan, his top priorities would be lowering taxes on businesses and the middle class, not helping the rich.
"I will try and keep everything. What I really want is lower on business, because business, we're the highest-taxed nation in the world. And I want lower on the middle class," he said.
"I am looking at it, and I haven't decided in terms of numbers. But I think people have to get more," Trump said.
Throughout the primaries, Trump had been against increasing the minimum wage, but as the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, he's changing.
"Sure, it's a change. I'm allowed to change. You need flexibility, George, whether it's a tax plan, where you're going -- where you know you're going to negotiate. But we're going to come up with something. But my real minimum wage is going to be -- I'm going to bring companies back into this country, and they're going to make a lot more than the $15 even," Trump said.
Unclear is whether Trump supports a direct hike in the minimum wage or simply intends to achieve it through greater economic prosperity.
He also said he was ok with the idea of shorting US bond holders giving them a haircut of 20% of the face value of the bond. So much for the idea of 'full faith and credit ' . His plan if true would make us the Argentina of the North.
US bonds are not subject to business-like negotiations . The face value and the interest rates they were purchased under is critical to their value for financing the debt . If bond holders don't believe in the full faith and credit of the bonds ,then future bond purchasers will demand a higher rate of interest .This is one case where running the country as a business doesn't work .Trump I'm sure played that card many times in his business dealings telling investors ,'sure I owe you $ 1 million....settle for $800,000 or take me to court .' But in the world of national financing ,a nation like Argentina pulls a stunt like that ,then they find that no one wants to buy their bonds.
Of course it is going to be negotiated. No one gets everything they want.
EXACTLY! OF COURSE it's going to be negotiated! Taxes come out of Congress. Presidents can suggest things to Congress, but Congress initiates the legislation, debates it and passes it. Presidents can threaten to veto legislation that doesn't contain core provisions they want, and that's often enough for Congress to give Presidents certain key provisions. But then Congress ALSO adds things that Presidents DON'T want, and then Presidents have a choice in compromise to make: do they sign and take the BIG things they wanted, and put up with the additional crap, or do they veto, lose on the Big Thing, fail to advance their agenda, all just to block some things attached to the legislation that THEY think is petty bullshit, but that somebody in Congress whose vote was necessary considers HIS big thing.
How many bills pass the House and Senate unanimously? Sometimes they do, like that bill to strip deported Nazi war criminals of Social Security payments. But nothing important gets passed unanimously. Horse trading is part of the process, and the President always gets a smorgasbord bill that includes what he wants, but that also has chopped liver and kimchee over in the corner.
Trump recognizes that passing laws requires compromise, and the flea-bitten Trump haters go OMIGOD HE'S GONE COMMUNIST!