Clinton Speech to Criticize Trump's Economic Plan
Hillary Clinton will dial up a line of attack on Donald Trump's economic proposals in a Thursday speech that casts his agenda as a crony giveaway that erodes his populist appeal, according to a campaign official familiar with the remarks.
Mrs. Clinton's speech in Warren, Mich., follows Mr. Trump's address in Detroit on Monday, where he outlined an agenda to sharply reduce taxes and regulation while advancing a far more protectionist trade policy.
The Democratic nominee's remarks will brand Mr. Trump's proposal to sharply reduce taxes on so-called pass-through entities, where business income is claimed on individual tax returns, as the "Trump loophole." Mr. Trump would lower the top personal tax rate to 33%, from 39.6%, but to benefit small businesses Mr. Trump has proposed taxing pass-through income at 15%.
The Clinton campaign is set to argue the change could potentially deliver a huge windfall to Mr. Trump's companies and other wealthy Americans, including his donors and advisers, many of them successful financiers on Wall Street.
At the same time, Mrs. Clinton will call attention to the inability to assess how Mr. Trump's policies would specifically affect his businesses because he hasn't released his tax returns.
Mr. Trump's economic speech on Monday cast Mrs. Clinton's policies as tired, and he said she would resort to political attacks as a distraction. "The one common feature of every Hillary Clinton idea is that it punishes you for working and doing business in the United States, " he said.