Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden threw shade at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday over Trump’s latest campaign promise: eliminating overtime income taxes.
“Donald Trump is losing and these tax proposals he’s making out of desperation are as fake as his tan.” Wyden said in a statement.
The Oregon Democrat, who chairs the Senate Taxation Committee, said the former president “knows that Republicans in Congress have no intention of passing this issue.”
“It’s clear that his new concern for workers is a sham,” Wyden argued, “because as president he undermined overtime protections for workers.”
He added, “You can always count on him to treat the workers like scumbags he can buy off with empty campaign promises here and there.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Chung hit back at Wyden, telling CNBC that the senator “shouldn’t be disrespecting hard-working Americans and taking money out of their pockets.”
“But it’s no surprise coming from a loser like Wyden, who has a history of persecuting everyday Americans,” Chung added.
Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, speaks during a hearing with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, not pictured, in Washington, DC on March 12, 2019.
Anna Moneymaker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Trump unveiled the tax-free overtime proposal Thursday during his first campaign rally since his bruising confrontation Tuesday night with Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
“As part of our additional tax cuts, we will end all overtime taxes,” he told the rally in Tucson, Arizona.
“If you’re an overtime worker, once you’re over 40 hours a week, your overtime will be tax-free,” Trump said.
Trump has been campaigning for nearly four years, but Thursday was the first time he mentioned a proposal to eliminate the overtime income tax. He claimed to have quoted the plan to “a few economists” and said their view was that “it would be incredible”.
The Harris campaign called Trump’s surprise announcement “the latest snake oil sales pitch,” noting that the Justice Department under Trump has refused to defend a Obama-era government which would extend overtime to millions of workers.
Trump has already promised to cut or eliminate a number of other taxes if he wins a second term in the White House. He said a Trump administration would not collect income taxes on employee tips or seniors’ Social Security. He also pledged to increase tax breaks for families with newborn children and others.
Harris also said she opposes taxing tip income.
The Penn Wharton Budget Model in late August estimated that Trump’s tax proposals at the time would do so increase in deficits by nearly $6 trillion over the next decade.
Goldman Sachs in a September analyst note said Harris’s economic policies will lead to a bigger economic boost and stronger job growth over the next two years than Trump’s plans.
Trump has claimed that his plan to impose sweeping tariffs on imports will bring in a windfall that allows him to pay for many of his plans. Economists warn that such tariffs are very likely lead to higher consumer prices.
