Trump’s Billionaire Treasury Pick Stresses Importance of Tax Cuts for Billionaires
President-elect Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary pick, a billionaire who has been accused of evading taxes, says that “the most important economic issue of the day” is extending Trump’s tax cuts for the ultra rich.
Scott Bessent spoke about his economic plans while sitting for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. Bessent is an investor, political donor, and a hedge fund manager. He is a former partner at Soros Fund Management, liberal philanthropist George Soros’ investment firm. Nevertheless, Bessent is a MAGA darling, and is expected to be confirmed by the Senate.
“Today I believe that President Trump has a generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth, and prosperity for all Americans, he said.
“We must make permanent the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” he added when outlining his goals.
When asked about whether he would renew Trump’s tax breaks for billionaires and corporations, he called them the most important economic issue today. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was designed to disproportionately benefit the wealthy over the lower and middle classes. In 2025, the law is expected to deliver an average tax cut of more than $250,000 to the top 0.1 percent of earners, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank. In contrast, poor Americans will net a $70 tax cut.
“This is the single most important economic issue of the day,” Bessent said. “This is pass-fail. If we do not fix these tax cuts, if we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an economic calamity, and as always, with financial instability that falls on the middle and working class.”
An extension of this legislation would reportedly cost $4 trillion over a decade. Bessent previously said that he would cover this cost through other budget cuts. Trump has proposed extending the 2017 law’s tax cuts for individuals and another, larger tax cut for corporations.
On Wednesday, Senate Democrats sent around a memo alleging that Bessent owes nearly $1 million in self-employment taxes from his hedge fund role. The memo was drafted by the Finance Committee staff under Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
A spokesperson from the Trump transition denied the allegations. “Scott Bessent has paid his taxes,” they said. “After providing thousands of pages of records through an exhaustive process, neither Senator Wyden nor his staff are able to provide any evidence that Scott violated the Internal Revenue Code.”
At the hearing, Wyden criticized Bessent, accusing him of avoiding paying into Medicare. “Make no mistake about it: those ultra-wealthy people get to pay what they want when they want to,and often, little or nothing, for years on end,” Wyden said. “Mr. Bessent is a case in point. The taxes that fund Medicare are automatic for the vast majority of Americans. They come straight out of every paycheck.”
He continued: “It’s a civic duty that pays off as earned benefits down the road. But like a number of Wall Street fund managers, Mr. Bessent makes use of a tricky legal maneuver to opt out of paying into Medicare. It’s a tax loophole that hurts Medicare but benefits him to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.”
Bessent also told Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that he is against raising the $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage. “I believe that the minimum wage is more of a statewide and regional issue,” Bessent said. It has been 16 years since the national minimum wage was increased. The minimum wage in South Carolina, Bessent’s home state, is $7.25
As Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) summed it up to The New York Times, “Bessent has spent his life helping the rich get richer.”
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