July, 12 2017, 12:00pm EDT

NEW REPORT: Trump Could Get Up to a $2.8 Million Annual Tax Cut From GOP Health Plan
In a new study, Americans for Tax Fairness estimates that President Trump could get a personal tax cut of between $1.4 million and $2.8 million a year if Republicans in Congress repeal a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The range is due to the income ranges provided by Trump in his recent financial disclosure form.
WASHINGTON
In a new study, Americans for Tax Fairness estimates that President Trump could get a personal tax cut of between $1.4 million and $2.8 million a year if Republicans in Congress repeal a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The range is due to the income ranges provided by Trump in his recent financial disclosure form.
The Senate is considering whether to keep or eliminate an ACA tax on the investment income of high-income individuals--the "Net Investment Income Tax" (NIIT)--as part of its ACA repeal bill. The House bill eliminates the NIIT, which helps pay for the ACA's coverage expansions and makes health care more affordable for families.
"We've known all along that the Republican health care repeal plans would make massive cuts to Medicaid to pay for huge tax breaks for the wealthy, while more than 20 million Americans will lose access to health care," said Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness. "Now we know how much President Trump stands to benefit personally if Republicans eliminate just one tax on the wealthy under the Affordable Care Act. Instead of giving himself a tax cut worth up to $2.8 million, the president should keep his campaign promises not to cut Medicaid and Medicare."
The NIIT is a 3.8% tax levied only on individuals with net investment income above $200,000 (or couples jointly filing taxes with incomes above $250,000), and exclusively targets unearned, passive income such as rental income, interest, dividends and capital gains. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the repeal of the NIIT would cost $172 billion over 10 years. Just 2.6% of taxpayers are affected by the NIIT, according to the Tax Policy Center.
ATF's estimates, available here, and summarized in the table below, are based on Trump's public financial disclosure form filed with the U.S. Office of Government ethics, which reports his assets and income for the period from January 2016 to April 2017.
According to the disclosure, which reports income amounts in ranges, Trump has annual income between $38 million and $74 million that would immediately be subject to the NIIT. Applying the 3.8% tax to these amounts, we estimate that Trump's tax cut would be between $1.4 million and $2.8 million.
While Trump could save up to $2.8 million from the repeal of the NIIT in each of the next five years, assuming his income remains like that of the last 15 months he could get substantially larger annual tax cuts after then because of an unintended loophole in the NIIT. It exempts income from taxation for five years that is derived from a trade or business in which the taxpayer "materially participates."[1]
In addition to the tax cut Trump would get from repealing the NIIT, he would also get an additional tax cut from the repeal of the "Additional Medicare Tax" proposed in the House repeal bill. This is a 0.9% additional Medicare payroll tax on earned income above $200,000 ($250,000 for couples filing jointly) that has extended the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. The size of this tax cut is not able to be calculated because Trump's financial disclosure forms do not make clear how much of his income would be subject to the tax.
Estimated Tax Cut for President Trump from Repeal of Net Investment Income Tax
Low Estimate | High Estimate | |
Income Subject to the NIIT in the 15.5 Month Disclosure Period[2] | $49,133,986 | $95,684,400 |
Estimate of Annual NIIT Income[3] | $38,039,215 | $74,078,245 |
NIIT Tax Cut | $1,445,490 | $2,814,973 |
Source: ATF calculations, available here, based on Trump's financial disclosure filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, June 14, 2017 and available here.
Footnotes:
[1] IRS rules for "material participation" allow taxpayers who have actively participated in a trade or business for at least 5 of the 10 past tax years to exclude this business income for the purposes of the NIIT. Thus, much of Trump's business income from golf courses, hotels, resorts, branding deals and other business activities would not be subject to the NIIT for the next 5 years.
Rental income is an exception, however--rents are classified as passive income unless the taxpayer is a "real estate professional." Trump can no longer claim this status since he became president. For this reason, we include rental income in the calculation of his NIIT liability, along with his reported capital gains, dividends, interest and other investment income.
We have not calculated Trump's potential tax savings for later years in which his business income is no longer exempt from the NIIT, which would be considerably larger.
[2] Includes rental income from Part 2 of the disclosure--"Filer's Employment Assets and Income" and capital gains, dividends, interest and other investment income from Part 6 of the disclosure--"Other Assets and Income."
[3] Adjusted to reflect 12 months (approximately 77% of the 15.5-month totals).
Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) is a diverse campaign of more than 420 national, state and local endorsing organizations united in support of a fair tax system that works for all Americans. It has come together based on the belief that the country needs comprehensive, progressive tax reform that results in greater revenue to meet our growing needs. This requires big corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, not to live by their own set of rules.
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Unions Cheer After Judge Halts Trump Order on Federal Workers' Collective Bargaining Rights
"Today's court order is a victory for federal employees, their union rights, and the American people they serve," said the head of the National Treasury Employees Union.
Apr 25, 2025
Labor unions representing federal workers celebrated on Friday after a U.S. district judge blocked President Donald Trump's March executive order intended to strip the collective bargaining rights from hundreds of thousands of government employees.
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) swiftly took action over what union national president Doreen Greenwald called "an attempt to silence the voices of our nation's public servants," filing a lawsuit in in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.
Judge Paul Friedman, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, granted a preliminary injunction on Friday, blocking implementation of the executive order (EO), which aimed to restrict workers' rights under the guise of protecting national security.
CNNreported that during a Wednesday hearing, Friedman questioned "Trump's motive in issuing the order" and "the administration's contention that certain agencies have national security as their primary function, citing the National Institutes of Health, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Department of Agriculture."
Also reporting on the hearing earlier this week, Politicodetailed:
Attorneys representing the NTEU mentioned that the Trump administration, after issuing the EO, immediately sued an NTEU-affiliate union in Kentucky and Texas—federal districts dominated by Republican appointees.
Shortly after Friedman's hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves, who is hearing the government's case in Kentucky, denied a request from a local NTEU chapter to postpone oral arguments that are scheduled for Friday. Reeves is an appointee of President George W. Bush. A decision in those cases could affect the NTEU's lawsuit before Friedman.
Still, the NTEU welcomed Freidman's Friday decision to halt what it called an "anti-union, anti-federal employee executive order" while also preparing for the Trump administration to "quickly appeal."
"Today's court order is a victory for federal employees, their union rights, and the American people they serve," said Greenwald. "The preliminary injunction granted at NTEU's request means the collective bargaining rights of federal employees will remain intact and the administration's illegal agenda to sideline the voices of federal employees and dismantle unions is blocked."
"NTEU will continue to use every tool available to protect federal employees and the valuable services they provide from these hostile attacks on their jobs, their agencies, and their legally protected rights to organize," she pledged.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the nation's largest federal workers union, also applauded Friday's news.
"AFGE congratulates our union siblings at NTEU on their important victory in the D.C. District Court today," said national president Everett Kelley. "This ruling is a major step toward restoring the collective bargaining rights that federal employees are guaranteed under the law."
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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders led congressional progressives on Friday in condemning the Trump administration's arrest of a county judge in Wisconsin for allegedly helping an undocumented man evade capture by federal immigration agents.
FBI agents arrested 65-year-old Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, who faces felony charges of obstruction and concealing an individual, whom she is accused of giving refuge in her chambers as federal officers sought to arrest him.
In a statement accusing President Donald Trump of "illegally usurping congressional powers," Sanders (I-Vt.) said: "Let's be clear. Trump's arrest of Judge Dugan in Milwaukee has nothing to do with immigration. It has everything to do with his moving this country toward authoritarianism."
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"Trump's latest attack on the judiciary and Judge Dugan is about one thing—unchecked power," the senator asserted. "He will attack and undermine any institution that stands in his way. Trump continues to demonstrate that he does not believe in the Constitution, the separation of powers, or the rule of law. He simply wants more and more power for himself."
"It is time for my colleagues in the Republican Party who believe in the Constitution to stand up to his growing authoritarianism," Sanders added.
Other progressive lawmakers also condemned Dugan's arrest, with Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) calling this "a red alert moment" that we "all must rise against."
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said on the social media site X: "Judge Dugan's arrest is outrageous and a fear tactic to our independent judiciary. Trump has always thought he was above the law, but now he's enabling his goons to push that limit as far as it can go. His reckless deportations and flaunting of the Constitution will fail."
Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.)
said on social media that "arresting judges is the kind of crackdown you see in a police state."
"This is how dictators take power," Lee warned. "They manufacture crises, undermine our institutions, and erode our checks and balances. If they'll come for one, they'll come for all."
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) said that "Trump's playbook is simple: punish anyone who stands in his way."
"This ain't law and order—it's a rise of authoritarianism in real time," she added.
The FBI arrested a Wisconsin judge who stood up for due process for immigrants. This is unprecedented. All of us need to stand up and speak out against arresting judges in this country. We are living in dangerous times.
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— Rep. Ro Khanna ( @khanna.house.gov) April 25, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Accusing the Trump administration of a "shocking" willingness to "weaponize federal law enforcement," Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) contended that the FBI "coming into a community and arresting a judge is a serious matter" that would require a "high legal bar."
Moore added, "I am very alarmed at this increasingly lawless action of the Trump administration," including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has "been defying courts and acting with disregard for the Constitution."
Advocacy groups including Voces de la Frontera, Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR), and Milwaukee Turners led a Friday afternoon protest against Dugan's arrest outside the Milwaukee County Courthouse.
HAPPENING NOW: A HUGE crowd of protesters have gathered outside a Milwaukee courthouse to support Judge Hannah Dugan after her arrest earlier today
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— Marco Foster ( @marcofoster.bsky.social) April 25, 2025 at 1:46 PM
"To refer to this heinous attack as alarming would be an understatement," MAARPR said in a statement accusing FBI Director Kash Patel of "intentionally being public with his announcement and accusations" and "seeking to bypass Dugan's due process and label her as a criminal before she even has an opportunity to speak up."
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MAARPR continued:
During this period of racist and political repression, we must stand together to denounce today's actions by the FBI. What happened to Dugan is not new. The FBI and other agencies have been emboldened in recent months, snatching people off the streets, separating families, terrorizing communities, breaking doors down of pro-Palestine activists, and contributing to the unjust deportation of immigrants who don't have criminal records. What is new is that they have gone after a judge.
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As Republicans in Congress push forward with a sweeping tax and spending plan that could be be paid for in part by deep cuts to Medicaid and to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the GOP plans to add a defense package to that bill which will include "an initial $27 billion boost" for the Golden Dome desired by U.S. President Donald, according to Thursday reporting from Reuters.
Trump has said he wants an "Iron Dome for America"—something akin to Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense. In a speech earlier this year he referred to it as a "Golden Dome."
Experts who spoke to NPR recently said that building a Golden Dome would be more complicated than Israel's Iron Dome for multiple reasons. Dylan Spaulding, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, earlier this week called the Golden Dome idea a "complete fantasy."
According to Reuters, which cited "a document" and a congressional aide, the $27 billion would be a part of a $150 billion defense package Republicans plan to introduce. "It will be part of Trump's sweeping tax cuts bill, which will cut taxes by about $5 trillion and add approximately $5.7 trillion to the federal government's debt over the next decade," per the outlet. The measure, if passed, will also fund the construction of 14 warships and increase homeland security spending.
"The $27 billion investment in Golden Dome will fund the building of more missile interceptors and the purchase of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antiballistic missile batteries, according to the congressional aide. THAAD is made by Lockheed Martin," the defense contractor, Reuters reported.
According to reporting from the outlet last week, billionaire "Elon Musk's SpaceX and two partners have emerged as front-runners to win a crucial part of the Golden Dome program that would track incoming missiles."
Bob Peterson, a senior research fellow for strategic deterrence at the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation, applauded the move. Peterson shared Reuters' reporting and wrote on Friday: "This is an important start to building Golden Dome. I sincerely hope this passes so that missile defense will protect all Americans from our adversaries."
Not everyone is enthusiastic about the spending.
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