With Donald Trump running for president during the 2024 election, project 2025 is an important factor to be aware of considering it is from the right wing party and may potentially be implemented with Trump’s presidency.
What is Project 2025?
Project 2025 is a political “initiative” or proposal by conservatives and organizations that aim to achieve specific goals during the year 2025, assuming the republican party wins the 2024 elections. It does not speak for any candidate or campaign however Donald Trump, the Republican Nominee has associated with numerous of the initiative’s backers. The project lays out hundreds of policies for the government.
Who wrote it? Why?
Project 2025 was made to reshape the federal government with conservative and right winged policies. Kevin Roberts is the head of the Heritage Foundation, the main group spearheading Project 2025. This organization, along with many others formed the Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, and published it in April of 2023. Paul Dans edited the book, and is the director of the Presidential Transition Project at The Heritage Foundation. He and many others used to serve in the Trump Administration.
Project 2025’s Goals
Move Income Tax to a Consumption Tax System & Reduce Corporate Tax 21% to 18%:
Like the majority of the Republican Party, they believe in lesser taxes on businesses and consumers. Shifting from an income tax system to a consumption tax system would make it so that individuals get taxed based on what they spend rather than what they earn. This allows them the ability to funnel more of their capital into the public economy rather than saving for government taxes at the end of the year. It’s also thought that reducing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 18% makes the U.S. more competitive globally and encourages business investment. Issues with a consumption tax system is that it can discourage spending, it can be hard to handle (inefficient and complex), and it can be costly. Reducing corporate tax is also argued to be unequal because it benefits the wealthy, it can cause tax avoidance, and governments may struggle for long term stability.
Reducing the Capital Gains Tax for high earners to 15% from 20%:
Project 2025 believes that the wealthy should be taxed less because they think that this would stimulate economic growth. Since the wealthy have more capital; it enables for more investments, expands existing businesses, and creates more jobs. Lowering the capital gains tax would allow people to not have to deal with taxes on sales such as stocks, real estate, and bonds, thus motivating and incentivizing investments and entrepreneurship. However, it’s argued to be unequal since it benefits the wealthy making them disproportionately even richer than the other classes, drains revenue from the treasury, and can cause economic instability.
Recommends a ⅗ vote threshold to be required to pass legislation that increases individual or corporate income tax – This is Unconstitutional.
Project 2025 recommends instating a ⅗ vote threshold in congress to pass economic legislation related to taxes. This is unconstitutional because this violates the separation of powers clauses and overwrites guidelines written in the constitution based on how Congress should vote on passing laws.
Abolishing the Economic Development Administration (EDA) or having the EDA assist in “Rural communities destroyed by the Biden Administration’s attack on domestic energy production” – Quoted directly from the Project 2025 paper.
The Economic Development Administration is an agency that provides grants and assistance to economically distressed communities. Project 2025 seeks to abolish this because it argues that it would reduce federal spending and believes that the EDA’s functions can be better managed at the state and local levels instead of federal. It’s thought that because state and local governments know about their economic needs more, they can handle things better than a federal agency. It will also cause only that specific area to be affected by disasters and not others. The issues with this are: abolishing the EDA can hinder economic recovery and growth after a disaster because places would no longer have funding and support; It can also cause job loss, an economic downfall, and can cause a divide and competitiveness because funding would now be individual and other areas would not be helping and supporting each other.
If project 2025 cannot completely abolish the EDA, they want the EDA to assist in rural communities that have been hurt economically due to the transition of energy sources.
Proposed Abolishment of the Federal Reserve:
Project 2025 argues that the Federal Reserve creates more economic issues rather than solving them. It believes if the Fed is abolished it would help curb inflation and other market issues. However, this would remove the security that banks have in the event of a bank run and it can also lead to economic downfall. Other broad recommendations stated by the project are: eliminating the “dual mandate,” Limiting the Fed’s LOLR function, stop paying interest on excess reserves, limit future balance sheet expansions to the U.S. Treasuries, etc.
Declares Americans should be paid more for working on Sundays:
Project 2025 believes that the “Day of Sabbath” (Sunday for most Christians) should be a “day of rest” and that “Americans working on the Day of Sabbath should be paid more”. This is a controversial idea as this brings Religion into local business regulation.
Abolishing Adult Content:
Project 2025 calls for the outlawing of any sort of distribution, production, and consumption of pornography. The main reasons being that it is addictive, it’s not specifically protected by the First Amendment, and it is believed to be a platform consisting of child predators and misogynists.
Recommends Merging the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency:
Project 2025 recommends merging the FDIC, NCUA, and the OCC to create an efficient regulatory framework that can better manage the financial system and potentially save taxpayer money. It can be difficult to combine these three systems, especially when each one is specialized in their specific role.
Dramatic Reduction of the Federal Government’s role in education:
Wants to shut down the department of education because it states that the education has not been improved and believes in local control over education. However, this can cause schools to lose federal funding which can cause education inequality.
Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 would be allowed to expire. This means they want to eliminate funding entirely which causes no federal help in funding education for lower income students, which means the state or local government would have to figure it out.
The Head Start program that provides services to children of low-income families would be removed
Use taxpayer money for private and / or religious schools
Increase Arctic Drilling for the promotion of American energy production & Deregulation of the energy industry:
Project 2025 aims to improve the production of American energy with the drilling of the Arctic. They want to support Americans interests in the Arctic region through economic freedom, ensuring free and open shipping lanes, and through the development of the vast energy resources of the Arctic. This raises environmental concerns. It can cause climate change because drilling for oil and gas contributes to greenhouse gas emission, it can ruin the homes of wildlife, it can risk the lives of animals, and arctic drilling is a huge investment so it is risky to do.
Abolishment of many government agencies and protections:
Recommends future presidents to downsize the EPA and abolish the NOAA
Aims to remove the independence of the DOJ, FBI, FCC, FTC and other agencies, allowing the President to have more power over these regions
End DEI protections in government:
DEI protections are organizational frameworks which seek to promote diversity, equity, and accessibility. It directs agencies to make sure there is inclusivity. Project 2025 views DEI protections as divisive and anti-American propaganda.
Mass deportation of illegal immigrants:
Project 2025 wants to secure and finish the border. They support the removal of those who have violated the immigration laws.
Removal of LGBTQ Rights:
Opposition of ‘radical gender ideology’ and advocates that the government “maintains a biblically based, social-science-reinforced definitions of marriage and family”
Proposes removing protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual or gender identity and eliminating DEI protections which it claims is “state-sanctioned racism”.
Public school teachers require written signatures from student’s parents who request to be called by preferred pronouns
Abolishment of same-sex marriage
Abortion:
Project 2025 rejects the notion that abortion is health care and motivates the next president in power to add stronger laws for the protection of the unborn. This is a very disputed topic, with the opposing belief arguing that women should have a choice over their body.
Conclusion
This is what Project 2025 aims to do to the governmental system and the American Public following the inauguration of President Trump in January of 2025 if Trump decides to implement the plan.
