The Finance 202: Here’s How Louise Linton Could Change the Tax Debate

Louise Linton, wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, drew the public’s ire when she responded to a comment posted by Jennifer Miller, an Oregon resident and mother of three. In response to a photo of Linton stepping off a plane dripping with various finery, Miller mockingly expressed her pleasure as a taxpayer at the opportunity to pay for Linton’s trip. Linton, in an ill-advised response, retorted in a sickeningly pompous tone that painted Miller as an ignorant child. While Linton’s general message was probably quite accurate—she and her husband have likely paid massive sums in taxes—the disgustingly arrogant tone with which she wrote overshadowed any legitimate argument she might have made. Linton later apologized through her publicist.

Linton’s attraction of the media’s attention also shifted focus away from the point of the trip: Mnuchin was meeting with Senator Mitch McConnell to discuss possible changes in the tax code. This incident has become fodder for Democrats wanting to highlight seeming inconsistencies in President Trump’s tax proposals. The Tax Policy Center, a questionably non-partisan organization, claims Trump’s tax plan aims to benefit the wealthiest Americans. The White House, in contrast, is marketing the plan as a boon for the middle-class and a means to keep companies in America. With President Trump desperately needing a win, incidents like Linton’s serve only to undermine efforts by the administration to live up to their campaign promises.  

See Tory Newmyer, The Finance 202: Here’s How Louise Linton Could Change the Tax Debate, PowerPost, August 23, 2017.

Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.