Trump Proposes Musk-Led Efficiency Commission, Lower Tax for Firms That Produce in US

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, addresses the Economic Club of New York in New York City on Sept. 5, 2024. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump unveiled plans for a 15 percent tax rate for companies that produce goods in the United States, a commission to conduct an audit of the federal government, and the clawback of unspent funds authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act.

He said billionaire Elon Musk, who proposed the idea of the commission, has agreed to lead the efficiency panel.

In remarks to the Economic Club of New York on Sept. 5, Trump outlined new economic policies as his campaign looks to contrast his platform with Vice President Kamala Harris’s ahead of their debate next week.

Other provisions of Trump’s plan include increasing domestic energy production, ending subsidies for so-called green energy projects, decreasing federal regulations, attacking government waste and mismanagement, and increasing tariffs to spur domestic manufacturing.

Trump’s speech was made a day after Harris unveiled a proposal to give small business tax breaks and increase the top capital gains tax rate to 28 percent, breaking from President Joe Biden’s budget proposal, which she had previously endorsed.

Economic issues are the greatest concern for most voters, according to an Aug. 13 poll by The Economist/YouGov.

About 97 percent of Americans named jobs and the economy as either “important” or “very important” in their thinking. In the same poll, 63 percent said the country is on the wrong track.

Both candidates released their plans ahead of the first, and so far only, planned presidential debate on Sept. 10. Both aim to convince voters that they can be trusted to bring back jobs, make housing more affordable, and reduce the cost of gasoline and groceries.

Domestic Production

Trump also highlighted tax incentives aimed at increasing U.S. manufacturing capacity. The keystone of the plan is a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 21 percent exclusively for companies that make their products in the United States.

“My message is simple,” he said. “Make your product here in America, and only in America. We are not going to be taken advantage of anymore.”

Trump also promised expanded tax credits for research and development, 100 percent bonus depreciation, and expensing for new manufacturing investments.

The former president suggested that he would raise tariffs on imports to spur domestic production.

He credited his tariff policy for “opening up a higher and better destiny” for Americans.

“We have to take care of our own nation and her industries first,” Trump said.

During his administration, Trump levied tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports over Beijing’s unfair trade practices. The Biden administration has retained and broadened these tariffs.

At campaign rallies, Trump has repeatedly said he would raise China tariffs to 60 percent and apply at least 10 percent tariffs on goods imported from other countries.

Commission, Government Spending

The former president announced that he would create a government efficiency commission at Musk’s suggestion. The commission would be tasked to conduct a financial and performance audit of the federal government and make recommendations for reform, he said.

The Republican presidential nominee confirmed that Musk has agreed to lead the task force.

“I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises,” Musk said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.”

Musk heading up the panel could raise conflict-of-interest concerns, given that the companies he runs receive government subsidies and are affected by federal regulations.

Trump said the commission would be part of his broader regulatory overhaul efforts that would “liberate our economy from crippling regulations.”

He also pledged to eliminate a minimum of 10 current regulations for every new regulation imposed. This would build on Trump’s January 2017 executive order that called for slashing two regulations for every new one. The former president cited the Biden administration’s rule to expand electric vehicles as a regulation destined for the chopping board.

Between fiscal years 2017 and 2019, the Trump administration reduced close to eight regulations for every “new, significant regulation,” according to a July 2020 Council of Economic Advisers report.

Trump’s plan would also claw back unspent funding from the $891 billion authorized over 10 years by the Inflation Reduction Act, a wide-ranging law authorizing spending on energy and climate change projects, subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, and expansion of the IRS.

Republicans have sought to curtail that spending since the bill’s passage in 2022. A considerable portion of the funds remain unspent. For example, the IRS has spent $5.7 billion of its $57.8 billion in funds allotted by the legislation, according to the U.S. Treasury Inspector General.

The Biden administration considers the Inflation Reduction Act to be one of its signature accomplishments, and Harris has said that she was proud to make the tie-breaking vote for the bill in the Senate.

“In the two years since President Biden signed it into law, this landmark bill has already delivered for American families,” she wrote on Aug. 16, noting that it had lowered medication costs for millions of seniors.

Other pillars of Trump’s wide-ranging economic plan include making his tax cuts permanent and embracing future industries, such as cryptocurrency.

Crypto has become a key plank in the GOP nominee’s economic plans, including a vow to establish a national bitcoin strategic reserve.

Marc Goldwein, senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said Trump’s plans to end energy-related regulations such as the electric vehicle mandate or to claw back unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act could result in hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue increases.

However, slashing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent for domestic-producing companies would similarly lower revenue by hundreds of billions, while incentivizing U.S. manufacturing, he said.

“[You’re] giving with one hand through that greater incentive to invest, and you’re taking with the other to the extent that the debt is ... laying down in the economy, pushing up interest rates,” Goldwein told The Epoch Times.

“I would still expect those proposals to probably be modestly pro-growth, but I wouldn’t expect them to be hugely pro-growth.”

US Dollar

Regarding applying economic sanctions on countries, especially Russia, Trump said he would apply sanctions forcefully against those who deserve them but later lift them strategically to preserve the U.S. dollar’s strength.

“I was a user of sanctions, but I'd put them on and take them off as quickly as possible, because ultimately it kills your dollar. ... It kills everything the dollar represents,” he said.

Losing the U.S. dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency would be the “equivalent of losing a war,” according to Trump.

He also said he would impose tariffs on countries that don’t honor the U.S. dollar as the world currency.

Harris’s Economic Plan

Harris has unveiled key elements of her economic agenda in recent weeks.

Her economic plan includes a Child Tax Credit proposal, a federal ban on price gouging, $25,000 in subsidies for first-time home buyers, and a plan to build 3 million affordable homes by the end of her first term. She also hopes to expand on President Joe Biden’s efforts to bring down key prescription drug costs.

On Sept. 4, Harris proposed a tenfold increase in the tax deduction for small business startup costs to $50,000 from $5,000. Tax experts at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget say Harris’s plans would add $1.7 trillion, before interest, to the deficit over the next decade. However, the vice president also proposed an increase in the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 21 percent, which would generate roughly $1 trillion over the next decade, according to estimates.

She also announced a 28 percent tax on capital gains for those earning more than $1 million annually, which is lower than the 44.6 percent proposed in Biden’s 2025 budget but higher than the current rate of 20 percent.

 Arjun Singh and Terri Wu contributed to this report.