President Trump raised eyebrows on Wednesday when he suggested Republicans would take another stab at tax cuts this year. Head of the tax-writing committee, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, had also expressed commitment to further tweaking the tax code, saying, “We think more could be done,” in an interview on Fox Business Network earlier in the day.
These comments came the day after the special election in Pennsylvania, where Democrats’ success in a House district Trump carried handily is causing Beltway operatives to question the path to success for Republicans in November.
Skeptics spent most of 2017 predicting tax reform could never be accomplished in a year, and they have readily seized on these announcements, declaring further reforms are impossible ahead of the midterm elections.
This is a mistake.