Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Hold onto your hats: As Trump 2.0 nears, we should be afraid. Very afraid.

By Remy Davison - posted Thursday, 14 November 2024


Bitcoin above US$80,000 and counting. The US dollar exploding. All three major Wall Street indices – Dow, S&P, Nasdaq – hitting record highs, all on the back of Donald Trump’s US re-election victory.

Let’s face it, everyone loves a circus. But will the world economy combust as the United States’ economic policy U-turns under Trumpenomics? And how will this risky, high-wire act impact Australia?

Advertisement

Summer tax holiday

Let’s rewind to January 2017. Barack Obama has just left the White House, and Trumpenomics is now the soup du jour.

On day two of his presidency, Trump withdraws from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-country, multicontinental, free-trade pact that has taken eight years to negotiate.

Mere months later, the new Republican administration announces its withdrawal from Obama’s signature policy, the Paris Climate Agreement, signalling Washington’s U-turn back to fossil fuels. The US began to produce so much oil and gas from fracking that, by 2020, it ran out of places to store it.

Then there were both income and corporate tax cuts. In December 2017, Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reduced corporate taxes from 35% to a flat 21%. The act included tax cuts for every bracket, except the lowest bracket (10%) for low-wage workers.

This did increase business investment, but there was a sting in the tail – the act devastated the federal budget bottom line, blowing out the deficit by US$1-2 trillion.

Advertisement

But wait, there’s more.

The December 2017 tax cuts also ushered in a major tax holiday, the first since George W. Bush’s 2004 initiative, benefiting US big tech, big oil and big pharmaceutical firms the most.

Eight of the US’s largest tech firms alone held more than US$500 billion in foreign tax havens – in other words, not counting what big oil and big tobacco might have stashed overseas.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

10 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Remy Davison is Jean Monnet Chair in Politics and Economics at Monash University. He is a Global Expert for the United Nations, New York, and a former member of the Council on Optimising Government Performance.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Photo of Remy Davison
Article Tools
Comment 10 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy