Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been peppered with outlandish statements, but one pledge from the Republican frontrunner has dazed his party’s elite: a call for the rich to pay more tax.
Mr Trump, a billionaire property tycoon, has condemned “carried interest” tax rules that allow hedge fund managers to pay less tax than their secretaries. “The hedge fund guys didn’t build this country,” Mr Trump said. “They shift paper around . . . They make a fortune, they pay no tax . . . The hedge funds guys are getting away with murder.”
He has also threatened punitive levies on US companies that build factories overseas. Some believe that his populist fiscal policies have exposed a fissure between Republican leaders — who still venerate President