4 ms·

Why? Trump is a populist. "Get your taxes done with me for free instead of HR Block charging you a couple hundreds" is a low-hanging fruit.

jacobyoder 3y ago
> Get your taxes done with me for free instead of HR Block charging you a couple hundreds" He had 4 years to do that and it never even came up. To the degree that he's an opportunist, and doesn't hold stock in Intuit, he might support it (or at least not oppose it).
ttyprintk 3y ago
It makes more sense that his party maintains the image that paying taxes is arduous and better left to technicians (short guys wearing yarmulkes in Trumps view). Those who can avoid burdensome bureaucracy are “smart”, presumably tall and yarmulke-less.
- nerdponx 3y ago
  This is pretty much how I see it too. I agree that he's an opportunist, but there's still tremendous political value in sticking to the Republican party line on this issue, even if he personally does not benefit from lobbying. However I do believe that he would flip sides if it seemed like popular sentiment was flipping, and he would claim that he's been in favor of it all along. If this program is successful, that might actually happen, and of course he'll be sworn in by the time the broader program is rolled out, and he'll take credit for it while finding some way to blame Biden for not having it sooner (even though he had 4 years of his own to do it and took no action).
BHSPitMonkey 3y ago
He _uses_ populism, but not on issues intended to benefit the common people. He will push policy to help the filing industry, pocket some kickbacks in the form of contracts to his hotels/resorts from those companies and their lobbyists, and then tell the people that this is great news for them (a claim his base will not question).
- kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
  His administration did streamline the 1040 into one basic form with addendums rather than the senseless three variant system from years past.
  - nerdponx 3y ago
    He also signed sentencing reform into law. He's not the devil like he's made out to be. He's just a total asshole who spread conspiracy theories to avoid taking responsibility for allowing Covid to spread, damaged America's reputation with its allies, and packed the cabinet and federal courts full of corrupt industry shills, who in turn tried to sabotage those institutions from their appointed positions. GWB was worse by far. At least Trump didn't start two massive unnecessary 20-year-long foreign wars that ended up doing nothing but slaughtering millions of civilians, thousands of US citizens, wreaking widespread destruction of both human and non-human environments, and cost US taxpayers untold trillions of dollars that could have been spent elsewhere.
lokar 3y ago
He is not a populist, he is an apolitical demagogue.

jacobyoder 3y ago

> Get your taxes done with me for free instead of HR Block charging you a couple hundreds" He had 4 years to do that and it never even came up. To the degree that he's an opportunist, and doesn't hold stock in Intuit, he might support it (or at least not oppose it).

ttyprintk 3y ago

It makes more sense that his party maintains the image that paying taxes is arduous and better left to technicians (short guys wearing yarmulkes in Trumps view). Those who can avoid burdensome bureaucracy are “smart”, presumably tall and yarmulke-less.

nerdponx 3y ago
This is pretty much how I see it too. I agree that he's an opportunist, but there's still tremendous political value in sticking to the Republican party line on this issue, even if he personally does not benefit from lobbying. However I do believe that he would flip sides if it seemed like popular sentiment was flipping, and he would claim that he's been in favor of it all along. If this program is successful, that might actually happen, and of course he'll be sworn in by the time the broader program is rolled out, and he'll take credit for it while finding some way to blame Biden for not having it sooner (even though he had 4 years of his own to do it and took no action).

BHSPitMonkey 3y ago

He _uses_ populism, but not on issues intended to benefit the common people. He will push policy to help the filing industry, pocket some kickbacks in the form of contracts to his hotels/resorts from those companies and their lobbyists, and then tell the people that this is great news for them (a claim his base will not question).

kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
His administration did streamline the 1040 into one basic form with addendums rather than the senseless three variant system from years past.
- nerdponx 3y ago
  He also signed sentencing reform into law. He's not the devil like he's made out to be. He's just a total asshole who spread conspiracy theories to avoid taking responsibility for allowing Covid to spread, damaged America's reputation with its allies, and packed the cabinet and federal courts full of corrupt industry shills, who in turn tried to sabotage those institutions from their appointed positions. GWB was worse by far. At least Trump didn't start two massive unnecessary 20-year-long foreign wars that ended up doing nothing but slaughtering millions of civilians, thousands of US citizens, wreaking widespread destruction of both human and non-human environments, and cost US taxpayers untold trillions of dollars that could have been spent elsewhere.

lokar 3y ago

He is not a populist, he is an apolitical demagogue.