Morning Joe busts GOP lies about economy: 'Trump tariffs are a huge tax increase'

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough highlighted evidence that showed Donald Trump's economic policies would raise costs for many Americans – especially those who live in the states most likely to vote for him.

Kamala Harris has proposed raising taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans, but Scarborough said the Republican nominee wanted to impose tariffs that would raise the cost of consumer goods and then cut taxes for the rich, as he did in his first term as president.

"One economist after another has come out and said that," Scarborough said, and then introduced economic analyst Steve Rattner. "Steve, you're looking at how Donald Trump's policies would do more harm to the states that support him the most. Before we get there, I do want to talk about taxes. Let's be very clear here: So Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both want to raise taxes, Kamala Harris is talking about actually raising taxes on corporations and the wealthiest of Americans. She's talking about, though, giving a big tax cut, big tax credit to small business owners that will benefit entrepreneurs. Donald Trump, as the Wall Street Journal editorial page said months ago, Donald Trump has proposed the biggest tax increases in this election through the form of tariffs."

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"Who do tariffs hurt?" Scarborough added. "They hurt consumers, they hurt middle-class America – they don't hurt the rich, they hurt consumers. They hurt middle-class Americans who can't afford the Trump tariff tax that they're going to get hit with."

Rattner agreed, saying the data he had analyzed showed Trump's economic proposals would hit Americans in red states the hardest.

"The Trump tariffs are, as you say, actually a huge tax increase," Rattner said. "It'd cost the average American family something like $1,600 a year. Even worse than that, it would affect the people at the bottom in terms of the percentage income they would lose more than the people at the top. It's what we call regressive, favoring the rich over the poor, as well as ... raising inflation and having a negative impact on the economy."

"I think there were two things about Harris' announcement yesterday that are worth pointing out," Rattner added. "The first, unlike Trump, who seems to make policy on the fly wherever he is – IVF, we're going to pay for it, maybe not, whatever – she's starting to have detailed plans on housing, taxes, small business and so forth. She's running a campaign with policy, unlike the former president and except for these off-the-cuff kind of things. Secondly, her proposal would increase taxes on the wealthy, unlike Trump's, which would decrease taxes on the wealthy. Try to get people to pay their fair share, try to take a stab at addressing our deficit, which you and I talked a lot about. Trump has no plan for that. What you saw yesterday for Harris is the beginning of a plan for that."

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