Gene Sperling: Trump's Doubling-Down on Economic Inequality
During an interview on the FOX Business Network’s Countdown to the Closing Bell, Gene Sperling, former National Economic Council Director, reacted to Donald Trump’s economic plan.
“If you look at how [Trump’s] tax code has been judged, almost 90% went to the top 1%. What he has doubled down on is this ‘15% solution’. That means that not only will the biggest companies pay 15%, but everybody who has any type of pass-through income. More than half of the 400 richest people in the U.S. have pass-through income,” he explained.
The former top advisor to President Bill Clinton and President Obama said Trump’s 15% corporate tax proposal is regressive.
"Anybody who has any kind of business income, whether you’re a consultant, a lobbyist, a hedge fund manager, investment banker, or corporate lawyer, you would now pay 15%, lower than most middle-income families. The largest multi-national companies that people think have paid too little would pay 15%. I don’t know whether his first economic plan or his second plan will win the gold medal for which is the most regressive and most contributes to income inequality, but it’ll be a tight race," he said.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is scheduled to outline her own economic policy in Detroit on Thursday.
Sperling said expect her speech to touch on how to encourage jobs in the U.S. that are “win-wins.”
"That means a major infrastructure plan, that means the largest jobs plan since WWII. She’s going to focus on manufacturing, on innovation, on small business,” he said.