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The “Useful Idiots bump” strikes again.
Over the weekend, the New York Times editorial board ran the following headline:
Why Are Democrats Pushing a Tax Cut for the Wealthy?
In the piece, the Times railed against the actions of congressional Democrats, particularly from the tri-state delegation, who have been pushing for a repeal of the $10,000 cap on State And Local Taxes, a.k.a. SALT. In a fit of pique, Donald Trump pushed through the cap in 2017 in an open effort to hurt blue states — one of his economic advisers called the plan “Death to Democrats”. Nasty partisan reasoning aside, the tax break Trump cut down on was and is mainly for people at the top of the tax bracket. So why have Democrats been trying to repeal it for years?
“Mean-spirited motivation,” said Useful Idiots guest David Sirota of Substack’s Daily Poster, “but actually, the one piece of [Trump’s] tax bill that was actually really progressive.”
Sirota had been one of the only people in the press to push the issue; once he joined our show to talk about it, he clearly pushed the establishment heavies at the Times to change their stance. Sirota talked with Useful Idiots hosts about the bizarre history of the SALT cap and the ugly giveaway fact that Democrats aren’t even seeking to raise the cap, but demanding a full repeal. “That’s the tell that this is about helping the really rich,” Sirota said.
If you’re wondering how the Times got the UI bump from an interview released today, just trust us — we recorded last week. In fact, we also recorded the interview before the Times announced it was launching a new product it hopes will compete with Substack, whose success is another topic we discuss with David on the show.
Useful Idiots: we change the future! All that, plus an assessment on how Biden is doing and other news, in this free interview.
David Sirota on the SALT Tax Cap, Plus: Is Biden Really the new FDR?