The US tax reform is good politics, but at the cost of prudence

IN Singapore, the single party-dominated government is warning that taxes will increase. That is never a popular thing to say, but the government will be trying to explain how spending on healthcare and other social safety nets is going up.

In the US, the opposite is happening. One party holds all the levers of power for now, but is threatened next year with midterm elections. Internally divided, it is making decisions on cutting taxes, which might be good politics, but not necessarily prudent.

Political expediency explains the move. Having failed to repeal a controversial healthcare law dubbed Obamacare, and making little progress on the big southern border wall, the Republicans need a major legislative achievement.