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Just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a sharp uptick in new home prices. It’s something few people remember, because the months that followed were so weird – and because prices across the board eventually spiked – and because home prices went even higher during and just after the pandemic.
But it happened. There was a fairly significant price increase in 2019 which helped launch an astronomical increase in prices and leave us in what many have deemed an affordable housing crisis.
Do you know why?
A significant factor were tariffs imposed by a former president named Donald J. Trump, who would later go on to be convicted of 34 felonies and so thoroughly botch a response to the pandemic that the roaring economy left behind by President Barack Obama cratered.
But much like the tariffs that led to the housing price spike, we don’t talk about those things. And no one much points out that Donald Trump was actually pretty lousy at economic policy.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand that a lot has happened since those 2017 tariffs – I mean, not as much as has happened since Kamala Harris dated the mayor of San Francisco or worked at McDonald’s, but you know, we have different standards for boisterous, rich, white dudes. But we should probably remember a few things about that Trump presidency, since he is asking to be president again, and because he is, again, planning to use the same absurdly vague policies this time around.
Oh, and because of one other small thing: If you’re a working person with a couple of kids and a mortgage, Trump’s tax plan is actually not great for you. And it’s way worse than Harris’ plan for you.
Let’s dig in.
First and foremost, we should begin by going backwards and establishing one thing – Trump did absolutely nothing to produce the good economy the first couple of years of his presidency and did plenty to thoroughly wreck it.
To be certain, he inherited a roaring economy from Barack Obama. This is not debatable.
Obama took over an economy in shambles and on the verge of a second Great Depression. Through progressive economic policies that focused on lifting from the bottom, he was able to drag us out of that mess and somehow produce more than three years – 39 months in total – of private sector job growth at the end of his presidency. It was a record and it will likely stay one for a good long while.
Trump took over an economy with that job growth, a booming stock market and solid consumer confidence.
What he did, despite all of his rhetoric about his glorious financial acumen, was ensure that the success was unsustainable. He did this through his tax cuts and tariffs.
Those tax cuts were an absolute mess. First off, the cuts for the wealthy and wealthy corporations were somehow permanent but the cuts for the working class and poor weren’t. They have to be re-upped every few years.
Such a system further squeezed the middle class, increasing the earnings gaps, worsening the already stagnant wages, ballooned the national debt and essentially shutting down upward mobility. In short: the wealthy did phenomenal, which is why they’re supporting him again, while the working folks got the shaft.
Juxtapose that outcome with the middle class-targeted programs introduced by President Joe Biden. Those programs have reversed the trend and actually led to the first shrinking of the wage gap between workers and executives in a generation. Nationally, despite what you may have heard, wages have actually outpaced inflation under Biden.
And by the way, you can complain about inflation if you want, but a few things are true: It’s been better in the U.S. than almost any other industrialized nation, it would have been way worse without the programs introduced by Biden and Harris and it likely wouldn’t have been so bad had Trump done more to better handle the pandemic.
Harris plans to continue the approach of focusing tax breaks and incentives programs on the middle class and poor. Trump, in the meantime, wants to keep helping out himself and his rich pals.
Here are the basic numbers when applying the tax plans from Harris and Trump in the real world. For an average family of four earning the U.S. median of $75,000, the Trump plan taxes that family at a rate of 2.23 percent. Total tax bill for the year: $1,676.
That same family under the Harris tax plan would pay a rate of 1.22 percent. Total tax bill: $915.
Those numbers do not consider Trump’s insane 10 percent tariffs on ALL imports or his 60 percent tariff on Chinese imports. Assuming he carries through with those promises, that would leave that average family of four paying another $4,000 per year.
Those were figures from the conservative think tank American Action Forum and from the Tax Foundation, which called the tariffs an effective “$300 billion tax hike.”
Those figures also don’t include Harris’ plans to assist first-time home buyers and lower health insurance costs and offer expanded Medicare coverage. All of those things lower your bills.
And the way Harris pays for it is by properly taxing the wealthiest among us. Not unreasonably so. But dammit, a guy sitting on his yacht shouldn’t be paying a lower tax rate than a guy punching a clock every morning. And we all know it.
Look, the numbers don’t lie. Stop falling for the rhetoric and the BS. Trust your eyes.
There’s a reason one of the world’s richest men is doing cheerleader leaps on the stage behind one candidate and not the other.
