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Market Might Zoom Upward In Anticipation Of Real Tax Reform

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Nobody like paying taxes, just ask around. Yet every year, those who make comfortable livings need to pony up to Uncle Sam in order to fund things like new bridges being built (we can hope), congresspeople’s salaries, somewhat improved living conditions for poor people and — most importantly — new defense equipment. Much as folks would prefer doing without them completely, quotable Republican Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once quipped, ““Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.”

In any case, here we are in 2017 — at a time when even the President of the United States can presume his duties without having released his tax returns — looking for opportunities to pay less in taxes than we did the previous year. Voting for Donald Trump was in itself a gesture toward tax reform (reduction) for both corporations and individuals, but it would appear that even paying less in federal and state taxes NEXT YEAR may be in jeopardy.

The Trump Rally was a multi-factoral incident, meaning there were plenty of things that investors presumed would benefit them based on Trump winning the election. Tax reform was at least near the top of everyone’s list in this regard. Yet it would appear getting there will be slightly more complicated, at least, than previously advertised. With healthcare reform (Obamacare claiming a portion of tax returns for its funding, at least as initially passed) experiencing a failure to launch earlier this year, tax reform itself is now in question. No doubt Congress remains interested in enacting new policy, but how to get there is proving more difficult.

So pay your taxes today if you haven’t already done so — and expect to do it again this time (actually a day earlier) next year. If there are any developments that might help us see this has fundamentally changed, you won’t even need to refer to us — the stock market will zoom upward in anticipation of real tax reform getting enacted, which will finally justify that aspect of the Trump Rally. Until then, expect to slog through as you’ve done for years now.

After the bell today, streaming service leader Netflix (NFLX - Free Report)  and troubled major airline United (UAL - Free Report) report earnings results for their fiscal Q1s. The incident where a paid customer was dragged off a United Airlines flight last week will not have been registered in the Q1 findings; we should instead see how healthier consumer sentiment combined with a stronger U.S. dollar has manifested itself on one of the top airlines players in the first quarter of 2017. 


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