President Trump set free-marketeers’ pulses racing on Tuesday when he spoke warmly about ending the inflation tax on capital gains. He told journalists in the Oval Office that “a lot of people have been talking about indexing for many years, and it’s something that I am certainly thinking about."

But just 21 hours later, supply-siders’ blood ran cold.

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“I’m not looking to do indexing,” Trump said on the White House lawn Wednesday. “I think it will be perceived, if I do it, as somewhat elitist. I don’t want to do that. I want taxes for the middle class, the workers, the people that work so hard. . . . I think indexing is really probably better for the upper-income groups. I’m not looking to do that.”

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There are superb reasons why the president should re-embrace this highly promising reform.

• Ending the tax on phantom, inflationary capital gains is not “somewhat elitist.” Democrats have said so.

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