A triumph of hope over experience is fuelling the Trump Admin’s schedule for tax reform legislation. A sprint, according to the White House, will see it through the House in October, clearing the Senate in November and on the president’s desk before the New Year. There’s also a small matter of avoiding a government shutdown after the fiscal year ends on September 30, and lifting the $19.8tn ceiling on the US government debt before the Treasury runs out of cash, probably in early October.
They badly need a victory after the healthcare cataclysm. But if they don’t get the Democrats on board they’re likely to run into a quagmire. Tax reform would be more difficult and drawn out than the Obamacare repeal, though tax cuts would be easier (marginally). Trump wants to slash rates for upper-income earners; and there’s still a debate over whether the tax bill should be entirely paid for or whether it could add to the deficit.
Two key players are Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and Gary Cohn, National Economic Council director.
Neither of them look in the good books of the Oval Office moving ahead. The relationship chart between Trump and Mnuchin is chilly now till September, and very fraught in November with tr Saturn square the composite Sun and conjunct Jupiter; with more ructions from March 2018 onwards.
The Cohn/Trump relationship chart is super-stressed right through with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun now; tr Pluto in a confused, disappointed, neurotic square to the Saturn/Neptune midpoint through the fall; and worse by a mile from early 2018 for two years with tr Pluto opposition the composite Mars.
Mnuchin, 21 December 1962, is a last degree Sun Sagittarius trine Mars in Leo (picking up the Solar Eclipse) with tr Saturn conjunct his Sun this December. And deep depression from early 2018 onwards. He’s also got a ‘car-crash’ Solar Arc Sun opposition his Mars sometimes this year.
Cohn, 27 Aug 1960, a tough-minded Sun Pluto Mercury in Virgo trine Saturn in Capricorn, sextile Neptune (Moon) in Scorpio, has tr Saturn dampening his confidence in October as it conjuncts his Jupiter. A ‘catastrophic’ tr Uranus square his Mars/Pluto also in October; and a highly insecure tr Uranus square his Sun/Mars in November. 2018 has some moments of luck and relief; but after tr Neptune squares his Mars from May, he’s not winning much for the eighteen months thereafter.