Musk And Trump Could Delete Consumer Protections, 23 Dec.

Musk and Trump

Musk and Trump Could Delete Consumer Protections As the weeks tick down on the Biden presidency, the administration has been trying to drive through a slew of much-needed consumer-finance protections. The new rules, including caps on credit card late fees, would add to some meaningful achievements that the administration has notched on behalf of American consumers, including tighter rules on banking fees and buy now, pay later services. But some of the changes face legal challenges, as Republicans push back against policies that have angered the financial industry.

The outcome of these battles is just one area where consumers have a lot at stake in the coming year. Here is what I’ll be keeping close tabs on once President-elect Donald Trump takes office:

What will happen to the CFPB?

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau is a relatively young agency, having been created under President Obama in 2010 in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Its efforts to add more guardrails to consumer banking, medical billing and other areas of consumer finance are popular among Democrats but often opposed by the financial industry.

Following an at times bizarre leadership battle during the first Trump administration, the Supreme Court upheld the authority of the president to fire the agency’s head.

So look for Trump to dismiss current director Rohit Chopra and install someone unlikely to continue the agency’s existing initiatives, such as capping credit card late fees; closing a loophole that allows high overdraft fees; and fighting improper medical billing practices. It’s even possible the entire agency will get dismantled, although that would be harder to accomplish with Republicans’ narrow House and Senate majorities. But who knows — Trump ally Elon Musk already has called for the CFPB to be “deleted.”

During Trump’s first term, there were many calls to boycott Trump products and companies that did business with the Trump family. The boycotts made a few waves — Shoes.com and Nordstrom’s both dropped Ivanka Trump’s fashion line, and Under Armour’s chief executive had to address consumer complaints after he made favorable comments about Trump. But most of the actions appeared short-lived.

In his second administration, Trump’s cabinet picks of wealthy business owners and other controversial characters could incite a new round of protests. Interestingly, the app formerly known as Twitter is one space where boycotts were able to gather momentum in Trump’s first term. But Musk has since acquired control of the company, rebranding it X.

Will anti-Trump consumers find their way to Bluesky or another platform to organize retail resistance? It’s certainly possible that Musk, who along with biotech company founder Vivek Ramaswamy is slated to lead a government-efficiency initiative for Trump, will see a growing backlash to his Tesla brand.

Will the estate tax exemption be extended?

The tax reform legislation enacted in 2017 as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act significantly reduced the federal tax on big estates. But the increase in the basic exclusion amount to $13.99 million for an individual will sunset at the end of 2025, reverting to its base of $5 million if Congress doesn’t intervene.

Trump has made promises about reducing income taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security, but he hasn’t indicated whether he would support extending the estate tax exemption. A higher exclusion would be in line with his overall ethos of reducing taxes on individuals.

The exemption only affects wealthy Americans, but cutting the exemption in half would have a significant impact on estate planning in 2025. Funds distributed during the exemption, even while the owner of the estate is alive, will be held to the currently high basic exclusion amount. That is motivation for those with multimillion-dollar estates to consider gifting funds to heirs by the end of 2025 to shield the money from a potentially higher tax liability starting in 2026.

Will retirement plans get another refresh?

The SECURE Act 2.0 has been in effect for a few years, but 2025 will usher in the requirement that employers automatically enroll eligible workers into 401 or 403 plans. This includes a minimum contribution rate of 3%. Employees can opt out, but the auto-enroll feature will hopefully increase participation and help more Americans prepare for retirement.

But lower-income Americans may not find this move particularly helpful. Some might find it impossible to sacrifice part of a paycheck to a retirement account, while others work for employers who don’t offer retirement plans. While it’s hard to know what the new administration will focus on, a possible bipartisan solution, proposed by economists Teresa Ghilarducci and Trump first-term veteran Kevin Hassett, would make a version of the federal Thrift Savings Plan available to private-sector workers.

Hassett, who served as the head of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump administration, will be returning to the White House as director of the National Economic Council, though it’s uncertain whether he’ll take up the mantle of retirement plans. The proposal would generally be good for Americans’ financial well-being — and it probably would be popular with Trump’s base.

If Trump 2.0 is anything like his first term, then we should expect a frenetic and sometimes-disjointed approach to policymaking. Democrats and consumer advocates will surely fight efforts to halt or roll back consumer protections, but with Congress and the White House in Republicans’ hands, the deck is stacked against them.