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After their latest attempt to repeal Obamacare died with John McCains knife in its back, Republicans are ready to move on. Theyre officially tuning out Donald Trumps ongoing Twitter tirades about going back to the drawing board, and talking about focusing on the one thing they care about more than slashing Medicaid: slashing tax rates.

Theres plenty riding on the tax-reform effort, for both the G.O.P. and for Trump. For Republican lawmakers, it would mean that having held their noses through the p---y tape, the Russian scandal, Sessionsgate, and Moochghazi might all have been worth it in the end. For Trump, successfully bringing down rates would not only mean putting a win on a scoreboard noticeably devoid of wins, but proving to the business community that he could come through in the clutch.

Of course, there are several monumental obstacles in their way. For starters, theres a reason nobody has re-written the tax code in a meaningful way in 30 years: tax reform is hard. Every tax break, loophole, deduction, subsidy, and credit has a constituency willing to douse Congress in lobbying money to keep their benefits. And thats to say nothing of actual American voters who depend on dozens of tax provisions to pay their mortgages, reduce their liabilities, and put their kids through college. Making matters worse, as always, is the White House itself, which isdespite Trumps tweet yesterday that there is No WH chaos!absolutely plagued by chaos. (So long, Mooch!) There is also the small fact that the president, himself, seems oddly determined to continue tilting at the Obamacare repeal windmill, even though Republican lawmakers are signaling forcefully that theyre ready to let it go.

The biggest obstacle of all, however, is the Democratic Party, which is as committed as ever to seeing the Trump agenda ground to a screeching halt. Worse, theyre effectively taunting Republicans by claiming theyre ready to work together on a bipartisan tax-reform dealessentially calling the G.O.P.s bluff.

In an August 1 letter to the president and G.O.P. leaders, signed by 45 Senate Democrats, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer wrote, We are writing to express our interest in working with you on bipartisan tax reform. For Republicans who believe they were put on earth to cut taxes, this line must have been music to their ears! Doves must have started singing, storm clouds must have been replaced by blue skies, and they would later tell people they could have sworn the framed photo of Ronald Reagan hanging over their desk smiled and winked. Unfortunately, this line represented the high point of the letter. Because Chuck Schumer was about to drop a bomb:

[The Democratic lawmakers ] made two blunt demands on taxes: They will not back any bill that gives new breaks to the wealthiest individuals and will not back any legislation that adds to the deficit.

Tax reform cannot be a cover story for delivering tax cuts to the wealthiest, the senators wrote. We will not support any tax plan that includes tax cuts for the top 1 percent. The Democrats added that they will not support any effort to pass deficit-financed tax cuts, which would endanger critical programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other public investments in the future.

Of course, the plan that was put forth by the White House in April expressly delivers tax cuts to the wealthiest, by bringing the top tax rate to 35 percent and eliminating the inheritance tax, to say nothing of the people who will rush to reorganize their businesses as LLCs so that they can pay the corporate tax rate, which Team Trump wants slashed to 15 percent. And when we last checked in, the officials working hard on tax reform still hadnt figured out how to pay for all of their proposed tax cuts, with some people in the White House reportedly happy [to] just blow out the deficit. So yes, Schumer & Co. are totally ready and willing to team up with Republicans to get tax reform done, so long as tax reform looks literally nothing like what Republicans want.

Originally posted here:
Chuck Schumer Trolls Republicans with Impossible Tax-Reform Offer - Vanity Fair