The White House left sweeteners for Democrats out of its tax reform outline because it doesn’t believe they would support it either way, a senior administration official said Thursday.
“I don’t think we have a chance of doing a bipartisan bill,” said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal thinking.
Some in Washington thought Trump could woo Democrats by attaching funding for roads, bridges, airports and other public works to the tax package.
{mosads}But the Trump administration believes that making an effort to win over Democrats would be a waste of time because they have opposed the president’s broader legislative agenda and many of his Cabinet nominees.
“To think that their behavior would change tomorrow is crazy,” the official said. “There’s no sign that we’re seeing any bipartisanship on anything going on right now. So we have to be realistic.”
President Trump feels a sense of urgency to pass tax reform this year, which would fulfill one of his top campaign pledges.
“For us to waste three or four months to think we can get a bipartisan bill done and then have to start over again with a partisan bill and not get tax reform done in 2017, so it’s effective in 2018 — I think the voters would be disappointed with us and they wouldn’t understand why we did that,” the official said.
The official spoke one day after the administration rolled out a sweeping plan to lower tax rates for individuals and businesses in what it says is the biggest tax cut in American history.
The plan drew immediate criticism from Democrats, who said it was a giveaway to the wealthy that would expand the deficit. They were also disappointed that it did not include infrastructure spending.
Other provisions, such as eliminating deductions for state and income tax, could cause middle- and upper-income people in blue states to have a higher tax bill.
“It’s not a tax cut for the wealthy. Their wealthy may pay more,” the official said.