Finance Minister nominee Scott Bessent has tax cuts for the rich at his disposal

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, a billionaire who has been accused of tax evasion, says the “most important economic issue of the day” is extending Trump’s tax cuts for the ultra-rich.

Scott Bessent talked about his financial plans while sitting for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. Bessent is an investor, political donor and hedge fund manager. He is a former partner at Soros Fund Management, the investment firm of liberal philanthropist George Soros. Nevertheless, Bessent is a MAGA darling and is expected to be confirmed by the Senate.

“Today, I believe President Trump has a generational opportunity to usher in a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth and prosperity for all Americans,” he said.

“We must make the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent,” he added when he outlines his goals.

Asked whether he would renew Trump’s tax cuts for billionaires and corporations, he called them the most important economic issue of the day. The Act on tax relief and jobs from 2017 was designed to disproportionately benefit the wealthy over the lower and middle classes. By 2025, the law is expected to deliver an average tax cut of more than $250,000 to the top 0.1 percent of earners, according to Tax Policy Center, an impartial think tank. In contrast, poor Americans will get a $70 tax cut.

“This is the most important economic issue of the day,” Bessent said. “This is pass-fail. If we don’t fix these tax cuts, if we don’t renew and extend, then we’re going to face an economic disaster, and as always, with financial instability falling on the middle and working class.”

An extension of this legislation would reportedly cost 4 trillion dollars over a decade. Bessent previously said he would cover those costs through other budget cuts. Trump has proposed extending the 2017 law’s tax cuts for individuals and another, larger tax cut for businesses.

On Wednesday, Senate Democrats circulated a memo claiming Bessent owes nearly $1 million in self-employment taxes from his hedge fund role. The memo was prepared by the Finance Committee staff under Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

A spokesman for the Trump transition denied the allegations. “Scott Bessent has paid his taxes,” they said. “After providing thousands of pages of records through an exhaustive process, neither Senator Wyden nor his staff are able to produce any evidence that Scott violated the Internal Revenue Code.”

During the hearing, Wyden criticized Bessent, accusing him of avoiding payments to Medicare. “Make no mistake about it: these ultra-wealthy people get to pay what they want, when they want, and often, little or nothing, for years,” Wyden said. “Mr. Bessent is an example of that. The taxes that fund Medicare are automatic for the vast majority of Americans. They come right out of every paycheck.”

He continued: “It’s a civic duty that pays off in accrued benefits down the road. But like a number of Wall Street fund managers, Mr. Bessent uses a tricky legal maneuver to opt out of paying into Medicare. It’s a tax loophole, that hurts Medicare but benefits him by hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.”

Also Bessent told Late. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that he opposes raising the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. “I think the minimum wage is more of a statewide and regional issue,” Bessent said. It has been 16 years since the national minimum wage was increased. The minimum wage in South Carolina, Bessent’s home state, is $7.25

As Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) summed it up to The New York Times, “Bessent has spent his life helping the rich get richer.”