With anticipation mounting around the upcoming elections, Project 2025, a comprehensive 900-page blueprint for future Republican leadership, is garnering attention based on its substantial proposals to restructure various aspects of the U.S. government, such as the federal tax code.
The conservative Heritage Foundation supervises Project 2025, with project director Paul Dans, the former chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management, and Spencer Chretien, the ex-special assistant to President Trump, at the helm as the project’s associate director. The project’s tax proposals, if actualized, would likely affect every American adult on account of its proposition to eliminate the nation’s progressive tax bracket system.
Project 2025 argues that today’s seven-bracket tax system is impractical and financially burdensome for taxpayers to navigate. The blueprint proposes to remedy this with just two tax rates; a 15% flat tax for people earning up to roughly $168,000, and a 30% income tax for those earning above that threshold, according to the document. This idea has already been met with criticism from expert sources, such as the left-leaning Center for American Progress, arguing that such reforms could unfairly shift tax burdens from the wealthy to the middle class.
Many Americans wonder how these changes could impact their taxes. Estimates suggest that a middle-class family with two kids and an annual income of $100,000 may face a tax hike of $2,600 due to the loss of the 10% and 12% tax brackets. If paired with the potential elimination of the Child Tax Credit, these families could see increases to an additional $6,600 relative to today’s system.
On the other hand, a prosperous couple with the same number of kids and an income of $5 million per year could reportedly reap the benefits of a substantial $325,000 tax cut. These estimates highlight the potentially dramatic shift in tax burdens as a result of the implementation of Project 2025’s proposed reforms.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign, Agenda 47, distances itself from Project 2025 with its suggested plan to impose a 10% tariff on all imports and 60% tariff on Chinese imports. The campaign claims these tariffs could generate enough revenue to eradicate federal income tax. However, tax experts are skeptical of this idea, arguing that the revenue wouldn’t be enough to substitute the over $2 trillion in individual income taxes collected by the IRS each year.
In conclusion, based on the ambitious propositions of Project 2025, the future of tax reforms and federal income depends heavily on shifts in political power. Changes to the tax code on such a scale would necessitate approval from lawmakers, which could prove challenging if opposition parties control either the House or Senate, just as President Trump experienced with his Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
As the election draws nearer, adoption of reforms like Project 2025 will be a critical issue on everyone’s minds, potentially shaping the outcome in November.
