Donald Trump and Republicans need to improve public opinion of tax bill

President Trump is coming to Cincinnati on Monday to pitch his new tax law as a boon for America’s economy.

Polls show the nation has warmed to the law since Republicans approved it in December, but Trump still has some work to do. A majority of Americans remain skeptical the tax overhaul will help them or the broader economy, recent surveys say.

The effort to turn public opinion is crucial because Trump and his fellow Republicans have made the law the cornerstone of their campaign to hold on to power after the November midterm elections.

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The president expects to find a friendly audience here, just as he did when he held rallies in Greater Cincinnati during and after the presidential campaign in 2016. He won Ohio by 8 percentage points.

After flying into Cincinnati, Trump plans to visit Sheffer Corp. in Blue Ash, which makes industrial cylinders. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, also a Republican, laid the groundwork for the visit in January when he toured the plant to tout the tax law.

At the time, Portman said Sheffer had given its employees $1,000 bonuses in December as a result of the tax law.

Trump is expected to deliver a speech at the plant sometime after the tour. It’s not known whether he will make any other stops while he’s in town.

The stakes are high for Trump and Republicans as they travel the country making their case for the tax law in advance of the midterm elections. The GOP has a razor-thin 51-49 majority in the Senate, and both parties are bracing for a dogfight for control of the House.

Republicans pushed the tax law through Congress with little public discussion and passed it with no Democratic support. The law slashes corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 21 percent and also cuts individual rates for most Americans.

The individual cuts, however, are temporary and will expire after 2025. By 2027, many individuals will pay slightly higher taxes than they would have under the previous tax law.

The benefits for individuals also are less predictable because savings will vary, in part because of a new $10,000 cap on deductions for state and local taxes.

For taxpayers at or near the median household income in Ohio and Hamilton County – roughly $50,000 – the tax savings this year could range from about $600 for a single person with no kids to about $1,400 for a married couple with two kids. Those estimates are based on a survey of several tax calculators now available to the public.

You can find some of those calculators here and here.

While Trump and the GOP call the new law a boon for taxpayers and the economy, opponents describe it as a giveaway to corporations that ultimately will be paid for by working-class Americans.

When Congress passed the law, many polls found support for it was below 30 percent. Lately, though, the news has been better for Trump and Republicans.

A Pew Survey in early January found 37 percent of Americans approve of the law, while 46 percent disapprove. A New York Times/SurveyMonkey poll found 46 percent approved and 49 percent disapproved.