News broke last week that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his department are considering a massive, permanent tax handout to the wealthy. Before I explain further, let me clear up any potential confusion. This is not an accidental reprint of an op-ed from the last Trump hand out to the most fortunate. That one, you'll remember, became law only a few months ago. You're right to be feeling a sense of déjà vu.
This time around, the Trump administration is mulling whether to take administrative action — bypassing Congress — to index capital gains to inflation, which means investors would get a special break on income from playing the market. If you earn a paycheck for a living, you need not apply. In total, according to projections by the Penn Wharton Budget Model, the handout would cost more than $100 billion over the next decade. The top 1 percent of earners would take 86 percent of the benefit. The top tenth of a percent of earners would take more than 63 percent.
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