By Josh Wingrove
Bloomberg News
(TNS)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is looking for new policy pledges he can present to voters ahead of the midterm election, according to a top economic aide and a former administration official, including potentially calling on Congress to cut capital gains taxes and create an exemption for certain home sales.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Tuesday in an interview with Fox Business host Larry Kudlow that Trump wants to offer voters more incentives to back Republicans in November’s election.
Kudlow, who led the council during Trump’s first term and remains an ally, said he had recently spoken with Trump about indexing capital gains, meaning taxes would be applied on gains adjusted for inflation. He also suggested exemptions for sales of homes worth $2 million or less from capital gains taxes, adding that “the boss is very interested” in those ideas.
“I spoke to him, he liked the idea of the indexing, he liked the idea of a bigger exemption,” Kudlow said.
Hassett said Trump was looking for new ideas to boost his party with voters.
“He wants to hit people with the things that are promises that we’re going to do if the Republicans have power in the future,” Hassett said in the interview. “So you can expect a lot more policy between now and the midterms, as we’ve been talking about, and I’m sure that’s why he was talking to you, Larry, about your great ideas on capital gains.”
Most tax changes require congressional legislation, making it unlikely any of Trump’s ideas could become law before the November midterms. Prior administrations, including Trump during his first term, have looked at indexing capital gains to inflation unilaterally without Congress, but legal experts say that would likely face court challenges.
Republicans in Congress have floated indexing the capital gains tax, though the issue lacks universal support within the party. Raising the exemption for home sales, currently at $500,000 for married couples, has support on both sides of the aisle.
The benefits of the capital gains proposal or exempting home sales from levies would also be heavily tilted toward the wealthy, opening up Republicans to potential political attacks.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said Trump is “always exploring new ideas to Make America Wealthy Again, but any policy announcements will come from the Administration directly,” when asked about any policy proposals under consideration.
Midterm elections are typically challenging for the president’s party, and this year is no different. Republicans face headwinds as voters have soured on Trump’s handling of the economy and the war in Iran.
Photo caption: President Donald Trump signs an executive order regarding childhood vaccines in the Oval Office on Aug. 10, 2026. (Molly Riley/The White House/Flickr)
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