Today Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, took the stage in Detroit, Michigan to lay out his economic plan.
For those of you who thought he would never mention housing, be prepared to be amazed. In his one speech, he gave more info on housing than he’s given to-date: a couple sentences at least.
While he may not have said much, he did mention that he would be giving more details in the coming weeks on his website, so check back there for more updates.
To be fair, maybe he wanted to say more but was cut short by the many screaming interruptions.
This tweet was shared by Quicken Loans Founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert:
So far 9 screaming interruptions of @realDonaldTrump talk Over/Under now 17. Taking the over pic.twitter.com/khrUHIuWK1
— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) August 8, 2016
But for now, Trump did talk about regulations, and how they are suffocating the economy. To prove it, he cited the low homeownership rate, which is in fact at its lowest rate since 1965.
So what will he do about it? He said if he is elected he will immediately stop all new regulations from agencies. During that time, he’ll analyze current regulations and their effect on the economy.
In July, at the Republican National Convention, the Republican Party approved its 2016 party platform, which included changing the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The platform also reiterated several points of the recently released Republican-crafted plan to repeal and replace the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Of course, the architect of Dodd-Frank doesn't agree with these notions to dismantle it.
“Cut regulations massively,” @realDonaldTrump? No rules & no accountability means people get ripped off & markets blow up. Remember 2008?
— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) August 8, 2016
Trump said he will ask each Federal authority to create a list of regulations that aren’t needed and that kill jobs. These regulations he says will be eliminated quickly.
And that’s all he said for housing. But, he did talk a lot about tax codes, and how he hopes to change those to bring more income to the middle class and relief to small businesses.
His tax plan included changing the tax code to a three-tiered system, down from the current seven-tied system, with tax rates of 12%, 25% and 33%.
While he says he wants to simplify the tax code, reducing it to three-tiers wouldn’t actually do anything to simplify to things, according to a fact-check by NPR.
Some agree with his proposal while others may cringe at the thought, but it won’t matter. Completely overhauling the tax code is nearly impossible. Even if you could simply throw-away the 74,608-page code, the consequences to businesses, individuals and the economy as a whole would be unprecedented.
And even if that could be done, it would soon complicate itself again due to interest groups lobbying congress for tax breaks, said David Thompson, who currently has over 15 years in the accounting and tax industry. Creating a three-tier or even flat-tax system just isn’t possible.
As a matter of fact, most of the pages in the tax law, about 89%, come from the past 30 years when lawmakers increasingly asked the tax code to direct certain social and economic objectives, according to an article by Jason Russell for Washington Examiner.
So maybe his tax plan won’t pan out quite like he says, but what about his plan to help small businesses? Trump’s current plan is to reduce business income taxes to 15% nationwide. That is a decrease from the current rates of around 40% when combining Federal and state taxes.
A reduction in business income tax could help small businesses such as credit unions if it were passed. The problem, however, is that such a dramatic decrease would significantly impact the amount of tax revenue coming in, and the government would need to find another area to generate that revenue.
That being said, Trump’s full plan has yet to be laid out. Maybe he will provide more details on his website in the next few weeks.
One thing is sure, he is very clear on what he doesn’t want. “The city of Detroit is the living breathing example of my opponent’s failed economic agenda,” Trump said.
He said the rules and regulations in the democrat-governed city are strangling it and preventing further growth, something he hopes to change if he is elected.
“Unless we change policies, we will not change results,” Trump said.
