Lowering Drug Prices, Tax Day, Executive Power

Mike and Trey open with a look at a recent Trump Executive Order intended to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Mike is generally in favor, though he doesn’t see it as having a huge impact. He also points to the absurdity of importing prescription drugs from Canada, arguing that it’s a sign of a fundamentally broken system. Trey makes the case that even if this EO results in savings, it doesn’t come close to offsetting the additional healthcare costs imposed on many Americans by Trump administration policies. Next, they turn to tax policy and IRS cutbacks. Mike points out that eviscerating IRS enforcement makes no sense if the government really cares about efficiency or enforcing the law. Mike and Trey also get into tariffs (essentially a regressive consumption tax), tax burden, tax complexity, and ways the tax code might (but probably won’t) be improved. They close by considering the historic number of executive actions taken by Donald Trump over the first three months of his second term, as well as the equally historic record of non-accomplishment when it comes to passing laws. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X Mike’s Substack: What Fresh Hell is This? Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesThe Politics Guys on Facebook | XListener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo, we’re @PoliticsGuys.The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.