All 45 Senate Dems Just Voted For A $4 Trillion Tax Increase
Democrats are forever working against Trump instead of for voters. They would rather win a political battle than let Americans keep tax breaks.Democrats are forever working against Trump instead of for voters. They would rather win a political battle than let Americans keep tax breaks.'51st state': Trump teases annexation again after Canada quickly caves on major tax
President Donald Trump threatened U.S.-Canada trade talks on Friday over the northern nation's digital services tax, which required foreign and domestic large businesses such as Netflix, Amazon.com's Prime Video, and Spotify to pay a levy of 3% on revenue earned from offering online services to users in Canada.
"We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400% Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country," Trump noted in a Truth Social post.
"They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us, also," continued the president. "Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately."
'Canada is a very tough country to deal with.'
Canada — the top buyer of American goods, importing $349.4 billion last year, and 75.9% of whose total exports went to the U.S. — made abundantly clear that it wasn't too attached to the tax, which the Parliamentary Budget Office estimated would increase federal government revenues by over $5.2 billion over five years.
Within hours of Trump's post, the Department of Finance Canada announced that it was rescinding the digital services tax to advance broader trade negotiations with the United States.
Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne noted that "rescinding the DST will allow the negotiations to make vital progress and reinforce our work to create jobs and build prosperity for all Canadians."
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick thanked Canada on Monday for removing the tax, noting that it was "intended to stifle American innovation and would have been a deal breaker for any trade deal with America."
RELATED: Canada's solution to reliance on US? Increasing commitments in Europe
"In our negotiations on a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the United States, Canada's new government will always be guided by the overall contribution of any possible agreement to the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses," said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. "Today’s announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month’s G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis."
The Canadian Liberal Party under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first promised the tax ahead of the 2019 federal election, saying it would "make sure that multinational tech giants pay corporate tax on the revenue they generate in Canada," even though critics indicated that Canadian consumers would end up paying the taxes.
The Digital Services Tax Act went into force on June 28, 2024, prompting condemnation stateside as well as an official complaint under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement from former U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
John Dickerman, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based Business Council of Canada, suggested to Canadian state media days after Trump's re-election that the tax was likely doomed.
"The first Trump administration ... was very clear on digital services taxes. They believed that digital services taxes were a very clear indication that a country was specifically targeting the U.S. and targeting U.S. companies. It will be a 'with us and against us' scenario," said Dickerman. "I think there will be very little room for negotiation on DST."
Trump leaned on Canada to axe the tax just in the nick of time. The first payments were due on Monday and retroactive to 2022, meaning a number of American corporations were on the hook for billions of dollars.
The Canadian government indicated that Carney and Trump have agreed to resume negotiations "with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July 21, 2025."
"Canada is a very tough country to deal with, I will say that," Trump told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures." "Hopefully we'll be fine with Canada. I love Canada. Frankly, Canada should be the 51st state."
Blaze News has reached out to the White House for comment.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Budget Office Estimates Biden Border Bedlam Cost States Billions
The Biden-era chaos posed ramifications far beyond our southern border, and Washington must take every effort to ensure that it never recurs.Trump sends mixed signals on possible tax hike
President Donald Trump allegedly urged House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) during a phone call Wednesday to raise the top tax rate, albeit at a much higher income level, and close the carried interest loophole amid Republican lawmakers' efforts to finalize their Trump agenda bill.
The president indicated a change of mind Friday morning, however, suggesting on Truth Social that "Republicans should probably not do it."
Last month, Trump and Johnson shot down the idea of a tax hike on the wealthiest Americans.
The president said in his April 22 interview with Time magazine, "I certainly don't mind having a tax increase."
'Our party is the group that stands against that traditionally.'
"I actually love the concept," continued Trump, "but I don't want it to be used against me politically, because I've seen people lose elections for less, especially with the fake news."
The following day, Trump came out against the idea more forcefully, telling reporters in the Oval Office that the idea of a tax hike was "very disruptive," as it might prompt wealthy individuals to flee the country, reported Politico.
"You know, the old days, they left states. They go from one state to the other. Now with transportation so quick and so easy, they leave countries. You lose a lot of money if you do that," said Trump.
Johnson similarly came out swinging against a tax hike on April 23, telling "The Will Cain Show" last month, "We have been working against that idea. I'm not in favor of raising the tax rates because our party is the group that stands against that traditionally."
A number of provisions enacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 are set to expire in December. Unless lawmakers extend the cuts, tax brackets will revert back to pre-TCJA levels. Accordingly the top individual, estate, and income tax bracket would return to 39.6% from the current rate of 37%.
One unnamed Republican source said to be familiar with Trump's Wednesday call with Johnson told NBC News that the president was considering allowing the rate to revert to 39.6% "to protect Medicaid and help pay for middle- and working-class tax cuts."
Multiple sources suggested to The Hill that while the White House advocated for allowing the top marginal income tax rate cut to expire, the administration wanted to see the 2017 cuts extended for Americans in the lower tax brackets. While the top income bracket starts this year at $626,350 per individual, the New York Times indicated the proposed restoration of the previous top rate would apply to individuals earning over $2.5 million annually.
The Hill noted that a spokesman for the House Ways and Means Committee declined to comment on any policy specifics under consideration, and the White House did not return the outlet's request for comment.
'I'm OK if they do!'
When asked about the proposed tax income increase on the upper brackets, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told "The Hugh Hewitt Show" Thursday that he was "not excited about the proposal but I have to say there are a number of people in both the House and the Senate who are."
Crapo added, "If the president weighs in in favor of it, then that's going to be a big factor that we have to take into consideration."
Trump noted in a social media post on Friday, "The problem with even a 'TINY' tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, 'Read my lips,' the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election."
"NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election!" continued Trump. "In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I'm OK if they do!"
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Trump calls on 'wacky crook' Letitia James to resign after troubling fraud allegation surfaces
The tides may have turned for President Donald Trump and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who once went after him for fraud, after some documents connected with a house in Virginia revealed James may now be the one in hot water.
Late Sunday night, Trump posted an ominous message to Truth Social: "Letitia James, a totally corrupt politician, should resign from her position as New York State Attorney General, IMMEDIATELY. Everyone is trying to MAKE NEW YORK GREAT AGAIN, and it can never be done with this wacky crook in office."
'I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence.'
Trump's social media post also included a link to a report about a house in Norfolk, Virginia, that James and Shamice Thompson-Hairston, described as a relative of James, apparently purchased together in August 2023.
The house is a rather unremarkable three-bedroom, one-bathroom residence built in 1947. The women apparently purchased it for $240,000, securing a mortgage for just under $220,000.
The Virginia land records about the purchase include a "specific power of attorney" document authorizing Thompson-Hairston to act as James' attorney-in-fact. In this document, James states: "I HEREBY DECLARE that I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence."
The "specific power of attorney" document was signed and notarized on August 17, 2023. Except for the inclusion of her middle initial, the signature that appears on it seems to match the signature James regularly stamps on New York documents.
On August 31, 2023, Thompson-Hairston signed a statement claiming that she would serve as James' attorney-in-fact. Another document included in the land record obligates both women to "occupy, establish, and use" the Norfolk home as their "principal residence" within 60 days and to keep it their "principal residence" for at least one year.
If these Virginia documents are authentic, then James appears to be in a double bind.
At the time they were signed, James had already been the attorney general of New York for four years. Funded in part by billionaire financier George Soros, James campaigned in 2018 on a promise of "getting" Trump and later publicly fantasized about "suing" him.
Since she elevated to executive statewide office, she is required to reside in New York. According to New York law, once a state executive "ceas[es] to be an inhabitant of the state," the office is considered vacant.
'Can she document continued New York residency during this period sufficient to maintain her legal authority as Attorney General?'
In October 2023, just two months after the documents were signed, James filed a civil lawsuit against Trump, accusing him and others affiliated with the Trump Organization of overvaluing properties to negotiate better deals with banks and insurance companies. A jury agreed and slapped the organization with a staggering $455 million judgment.
The judgment is currently under appeal, and members of a New York appeals court already signaled support for overturning or at least reducing it.
If James' primary residence in 2023 and 2024 was actually in Virginia, her standing as attorney general — and in the Trump case as well as others — is dubious.
Moreover, a possible motive for declaring a property to be an owner's primary residence would be to secure a lower interest rate on a mortgage. If James misrepresented the Virginia property as her "principal residence," she could have committed the same type of fraud she accused the Trump organization of perpetrating.
In fact, reports have speculated that such false statements could even be considered federal wire fraud, a charge that carries decades in prison and fines of up to $1 million. The Department of Justice, now under Trump's purview, would be in a position to file such charges, if leaders are so inclined.
For now, the most significant drawback to the allegations against James is the fact that they were first raised in the blog White Collar Fraud by convicted fraudster Sam Antar. In the late 1980s, Antar was the CFO of Crazy Eddie, a Brooklyn-based electronics chain that went under after serious financial corruption was exposed.
Antar managed to escape prison time by copping a plea deal. He then made a "Catch Me If You Can" turnaround of sorts and became an investigator of white-collar financial crime.
In addition to publishing the Virginia land documents and explaining their relevance, Antar posed four important questions regarding James and her political future:
Why did James explicitly declare her intent to make Virginia her principal residence while serving as New York’s Attorney General?
Did she fulfill the 60-day occupancy requirement in her mortgage while simultaneously appearing in New York courts?
Can she document continued New York residency during this period sufficient to maintain her legal authority as Attorney General?
Will this affect her eligibility to run for re-election, which requires uninterrupted New York residency?
James' office and Thompson-Hairston did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Democrats Who Ignored Biden’s ‘Aggressive’ Tax Avoidance Act Outraged Dr. Oz May Have Underpaid
After spending four years ignoring Biden’s tax maneuvers, Democrats decided one of Trump’s nominees deserved defeat for allegedly using similar tactics.DOGE shows up at IRS, sending taxmen into panic
The Department of Government Efficiency has managed in just a few weeks to inspire dread among various contributors to and beneficiaries of government waste.
After making its penetrating gaze felt at over a dozen federal agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the DOGE set its sights on the Internal Revenue Service.
Sure enough, bureaucrats at the organization that the Obama administration weaponized against conservatives have begun to panic.
Two unnamed sources said to be familiar with the matter told Reuters that one of Elon Musk's top DOGE staffers, Gavin Kliger, arrived at the IRS Thursday to scrutinize the agency's operations. Kliger reportedly met with top executives at the agency who were separately instructed in an email to identify all "non-essential" contracts for termination.
"Consistent with the goals and directives of the Trump administration to eliminate waste, reduce spending, and increase efficiency, GSA [General Services Administration] has taken the first steps in a government-wide initiative to eliminate non-essential consulting contracts," said the email.
According to CNN, Kliger apparently asked for a description of what each business unit in the agency did, what it sought to accomplish in the next 90 days, and what risks it currently faces. Despite the straightforward nature of the DOGE member's questions, Kliger's visit reportedly left IRS staffers on edge.
IRS staffers were apparently not the only ones in Washington, D.C., concerned over the prospect of greater transparency and improved efficiency.
'It's poetic justice.'
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon rushed to concern-monger on X, writing, "My office is hearing that DOGE is now at the IRS. That means Musk's henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America. And if your refund is delayed, they could very well be the reason."
When asked about Kliger and other DOGE officials' visit to the IRS, President Donald Trump told reporters, "They're doing a hell of a job. It's an amazing job they're doing."
"Their force is building. I call it the force of super-geniuses," said Trump. "They go up and they talk to some of the people about certain deals, and the people get all tongue-tied. They can't talk because these people get it. They're very smart people."
Trump suggested that he does not plan to shutter the IRS but noted that the agency "will be looked at like everybody else."
Christian Whiton, a senior adviser in the first Trump administration, told Sky News, "It's poetic justice for the IRS to be facing scrutiny since they scrutinize the rest of us."
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Trump vows to eliminate taxes on overtime — a potential winner among some of 'the hardest-working citizens'
President Donald Trump vowed at his rally in Tuscon, Arizona, Thursday that he would eliminate all taxes on overtime pay — an unprecedented proposal from the federal government. This is part of a broader raft of proposed tax cuts, one of which is apparently so popular as to drive Kamala Harris to adopt it as her own.
"We will end all taxes on overtime," said Trump. "You know what that means? Think about it."
Trump suggested not only that Americans would have a greater incentive to work more if they knew the government wasn't skimming off the top but that businesses would have a easier time with recruitment and retention.
'It's time for the working man and woman to finally catch a break.'
"The people who work overtime are among the hardest-working citizens in our country. And for too long, no one in Washington has been looking out for them," continued Trump. "They're police officers, nurses, factory workers, construction workers, truck drivers, and machine operators. It's time for the working man and woman to finally catch a break."
The Labor Department under Trump issued a rule in 2019 making overtime pay available to an additional 1.3 million workers. It did so by raising the salary level that companies would have to pay in order to avoid paying workers at least 1.5 times their regular pay rate for work in excess of 40 hours a week.
Even though millions of Americans benefited, supposed labor activists, Democrats, and the liberal media criticized Trump's salary-level increase, suggesting it was not as generous as one of President Barack Obama's failed schemes.
Piggybacking on the success of Trump's rule, the Biden administration announced a final rule in April further increasing the salary threshold required to exempt workers from federal overtime pay requirements — from $36,568 to $43,888 by July 1, 2024, and to $58,656 by Jan. 1, 2025.
As a result of the 2019 and 2024 threshold increases, a great many Americans would be able to avoid forking over their hard-won overtime earnings to the government under Trump's proposed tax policy.
Reuters noted that while this proposal is a first from the federal government, Alabama paved the way this year, becoming the first state in the union to exclude overtime wages for hourly workers from state taxes. The move is, however, temporary.
According to the Tax Foundation, which has been tracking proposed tax policies on the campaign trail, Trump has said he would also:
- exempt tips from income taxes;
- lower the corporate income tax rate from 21% to 20% and lower the corporate income tax rate to 15% for companies that make their products in the United States;
- make permanent his 2017 individual income tax cuts, which are now nearing expiration;
- consider swapping out personal income taxes for increased tariffs on imports;
- exempt Social Security benefits from income tax; and
- impose a 60% tariff on imports from China.
It appears the Harris campaign did not take Trump's announcement well.
A Harris campaign spokesman said, "He is desperate and scrambling and saying whatever it takes to try to trick people into voting for him."
It is unclear whether Harris, who was recently exposed copying and pasting policies from her former running mate, will also claim this proposal for her own.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com