Trump's CUT CUT CUT Tax Plan is already in trouble and it isn't even out yet

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The GOP’s math (and process) problem on taxes

As House Republicans are set to release their tax bill today, they have a problem that goes well beyond the early tough poll numbers for the tax plan — math.

The New York Times: “The tax rewrite is pitting businesses against individuals, as lawmakers look for ways to offset trillions of dollars of personal and corporate income tax cuts by limiting popular individual tax breaks, including preferential treatment for 401(k) plans and the state and local tax deduction. Business groups, meanwhile, say lawmakers run the risk of putting the United States at a global disadvantage if it does not reduce the corporate tax rate to a level commensurate with other industrialized nations.”

As NBC’s Kasie Hunt, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Alex Moe add: “President Donald Trump has made it clear he doesn't want to hit middle-class families with tax hikes, but he also won't compromise on the 20 percent corporate tax rate... Many Republicans don’t want to raise the deficit — and the tax plan's total pricetag can't exceed $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years, according to the budget rules. It’s all led to the last-minute scramble to find more money.”

Our take: The reason the GOP has a math problem is because they have a PROCESS problem. Why do they have to find offsetting funds? Because, just like with health care, they’re pursuing a partisan bill via reconciliation (so they need only 51 Senate votes instead of 60).

But if the GOP was shooting for a bill that could get 60 Senate votes, they wouldn’t have these kinds of problems.