So something super important to understand , is that the president is not a king , memes about godemperors aside . Obama seemed to forget this and was unable to effectively work with Congress , including his own party when they had a full majority in all parts of government , which is why his crowning achievement after 8 years is a piece of shit healthcare law that mafe the system worse and won ' t survive 6 months past his presidency . Obama made up for his inability to work with Congress by implementing many of his policy ideas via executive order , unfortunately those orders can be canceled with a penstroke by the incoming president . So anyway , back to Trump , it ultimately doesn ' t matter what his tax proposal is because Congress rights the laws , not the president . Trump can leverage his influence towards moving the eventual tax law in the direction of his campaign platform . I think the update is a realistic reflection of that reality , where he sat down to negotiate with Paul Ryan et al and the updated position is a compromise they agreed on .