The great election-eve middle-class tax cut began not as a factual proposal, but as a false promise.

When President Trump abruptly told reporters over the weekend that middle-income Americans would receive a 10 percent tax cut before the midterm elections, neither officials on Capitol Hill nor in his administration knew anything about such a tax cut. The White House released no substantive information. And although cutting taxes requires legislation, Congress is not scheduled to be back in session until after the Nov. 6 elections.

Yet Washington’s bureaucratic machinery whirred into action nonetheless — working to produce a policy that could be seen as supporting Trump’s whim.

One such option now under discussion by administration officials is a symbolic nonbinding “resolution” designed to signal to voters ahead of the elections that if Republicans hold their congressional majorities they might pass a future 10 percent tax cut for the middle class. And House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) said Tuesday he would work with the White House and the Treasury Department to develop a plan “over the coming weeks.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/politics/in-the-service-of-whim-officials-scramble-to-make-trumps-false-assertions-real/2018/10/23/0c271586-d6de-11e8-83a2-d1c3da28d6b6_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.4ec35e10e934&__twitter_impression=true