Low taxes and deregulation at the Business Roundtable and that’s the subject of the riff. Former President Donald Trump made his first visit to Capitol Hill today, the first one since he left office three and a half years ago.
He met with Senate and House Republicans and then visited the nation's top CEOs at the Business Roundtable, where yours truly was the moderator and interviewer for the one-hour session. We'll have much more on the House and Senate meetings with our own John Roberts, Congressman Wesley Hunt and Senator Roger Marshall.
On Capitol Hill, the unity vibe was very significant. The Business Roundtable meeting was private and off the record, but officials were okay with reporting the general topics, but no direct quotes. The meeting was packed and the number one issue seemed to be tax cuts. President Trump pledged that he would maintain the 21% corporate tax cut, which was such a winner for workers and so crucial for business to grow and compete.
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He told the group he was going to stay with that, no changes in the 21% tax rate and in fact, wanted the entire Trump tax cuts of 2017 to be extended and made permanent and, in general, he made it very clear that he is a tax cutter, not a tax raiser. That he is a pro-growth, prosperity and opportunity president, not a redistributionist and that Joe Biden's perhaps $5 trillion tax hiking policy was anathema to him and catastrophic to the economy.
Oh and, by the way, Mr. Trump repeated his new policy of tax-free tips for service workers that he unveiled in Las Vegas last weekend and he told several anecdotes about this, but I can't repeat them because it was an off the record meeting.
Mr. Trump also mentioned big picture themes -- that success will bring the country together, and that success will bring unity, and he agreed with the Reagan dictum, that strength at home leads to strength abroad. He also repeated his policy to overturn Biden over-regulation, including permitting reform and, of course, "drill baby drill" and, as he always does, he maintained that opening the fossil fuel spigots will be a key part of ending Bidenflation.
You could have heard a pin drop throughout the entire one-hour Trump presentation and, my observation here: the powerful group of corporate bigwigs were very happy with a candidate for lower taxes and deregulation and the success of business, which is the best vehicle to promote a workers’ coalition.
That was my takeaway. I've been to several Business Roundtable meetings with Mr. Trump during his presidency, and, frankly, thought this one was the most favorable one yet and that's my riff.
This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the June 13, 2024, edition of "Kudlow."
