Trump’s taxes, immigration plans clear before inauguration

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Donald Trump delivers his speech. Trump, the then- leader in the 2016 Republican presidential race, held a rally at the Lakefront Airport on Friday, March 4, 2016. Photo credit: Zach Brien

John Casey

On Jan. 20, the highest ranking office in the United States will shift from the reins of Barack Obama to Donald Trump.

Although this date rapidly approaches, the president-elect has yet to firmly declare his position and plans for many issues that face the American public. On the issues he has addressed, he has frequently flip-flopped his position, with the exceptions of taxes and immigration, which his opinion has been clear.

Donald Trump has laid out his tax plan on his website, clearly planning to take the current tax plan and significantly alter it. A key pillar of his plan will be collapsing the seven income tax brackets to three.

The maximum income tax percentage currently applicable is 39.6 percent for married joint filers with an income greater than $466,950. Under Trump’s new plan, the maximum tax percentage will be 33 percent for incomes greater than $225,000.

On the other end of the spectrum, the current minimum tax percentage is 10 percent which is applicable to married joint filers with an income less than $18,550. Trump’s tax plan aims for a 12 percent tax on married joint filers with incomes less than $75,000.

He also plans to raise the standard deduction for joint filers from $12,600 to $30,000 in addition to repealing the death tax and 3.8 percent Obamacare tax on investment income.

Overall, Trump’s tax plan is built on a strong foundation, one which will positively impact just about every economic class. He has proposed a possible fourth bracket as well, one which would allow extremely low-income filers an opportunity to avoid paying income tax entirely. This, however, will likely not be instituted.

The new President’s website also details his 10 point plan on immigration. His infamous wall is just a small part of his overall plan, a plan which will significantly alter the United States’ unofficial title of safe-haven for immigrants around the world.

Among many things, Trump aims to end sanctuary cities around the United States. The concept of a sanctuary city is most commonly used to describe cities that do not utilize municipal funds or resources to enforce federal immigration laws.

An analysis done by Politico found that 47 cities nationwide meet the criteria necessary to be defined as a sanctuary city, including New Orleans. The top ten sanctuary cities in the nation are home to over two million undocumented immigrants.

While Mayor Mitch Landrieu has not formally declared New Orleans a sanctuary city, its policies regarding immigrants define it as one. Landrieu has enforced policies that do not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement warrants and requests for sweeps.

However, Landrieu has publicly argued that New Orleans is not a sanctuary city, citing that the police force does cooperate with the turnover of information to ICE officials in addition to assistance in local raids.

Trump’s inauguration will take place at the nation’s capital building in Washington, D.C. around 12 p.m.