Catherine Rampell notes a contradiction:
White House to propose 14.1% cut to the I.R.S., despite Mnuchin’s comments acknowledging this will *cost* govt money https://t.co/f8xDOpi6ra
— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) March 4, 2017
This is easily explained. First, Republicans routinely try to cut the IRS enforcement budget as a favor to the rich, who dislike being audited. Second, Trump’s budget, like his tweets, is a showpiece for his fans, not a serious document.
See, Congress is going to ignore Trump’s budget, and he knows it. However, he wants credit for having the guts to shake things up and propose big cuts. This will impress his base, which naively assumes that things like official budget documents are serious stuff. What’s more, years from now, when we’re running monster deficits thanks to Trump’s tax cuts, he’ll be able to say that he tried to cut the budget, but couldn’t get the pathetic lifers in Congress to go along.
It’s all part of the Trump Show, and we are just the audience.
