Brendan Duke served at the National Economic Council in the Biden White House. He told me that the CBO report shows companies are passing off 90% of those costs to consumers. “Which flies directly in the face of the justifications that Trump – and his entire administration – has given for these sweeping taxes. So the CBO report shows that this is a sweeping tax on Americans going shopping at Walmart and Costco,” Duke said.
Experience
- Former Senior Adviser to Sen. Michael Bennet
- Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight
- Senior Policy Adviser at the White House National Economic Council
- Center for American Progress
- U.S. Joint Economic Committee
Expertise
- U.S. economic policy
- Tax and revenue policy
- Trade
Education
- Princeton University, MPA, Public Affairs
- Macalester College, BA, Political Science
Recent Coverage
FEB 12, 2026
KMUW NPR: 6 House Republicans Buck Party, Vote Against Trump’s Canadian Tariffs
JAN 22, 2026
Reuters: US House approves several FY 26 bills, including domestic security with immigration clampdown funds
Brendan Duke of the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said the spending bills protect many programs targeted by Trump, such as medical research, housing and education. “We will see if President Trump respects this agreement,” he said.
AUGUST 2, 2024
MSNBC: ‘It’s just a scam’: The real truth about Trump’s no tax on tips or social security pledge
JANUARY 24, 2025
Yahoo! Finance Morning Brief: Tax cuts ‘are not free’: Debating the impacts of Trump policies
Meanwhile, Duke warns that tax cuts are not entirely without cost: “Tax cuts are not free. They are going to drive up interest rates, and low and middle-income families are going to end up paying for it when it comes to the grocery store or their credit card bills.”
JULY 12, 2024
CBS News: Project 2025 would overhaul the U.S. tax system. Here’s how it could impact you.
“The federal income tax system is progressive, and people who make more money pay a higher marginal tax rate than people who make less money,” Brendan Duke, senior director for economic policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, told CBS MoneyWatch. “Conservatives look at that, and they feel that that’s unfair to the wealthy to ask them to pay a greater share of their income in taxes than lower income families.”
SEPTEMBER 24, 2024
CNBC SquawkBox: Trump tax plan would be shift from income tax to consumption tax, says CAP’s Brendan Duke
JUNE 15, 2024
The Dean Obeidallah Show: Economic expert Brendan Duke explains the real reasons for inflation, Greedflation and more
Interested in speaking with Brendan Duke?
About Brendan
Brendan is the Senior Director for Federal Budget Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
He previously served as a senior policy adviser at the Biden-Harris White House National Economic Council and as a volunteer on the Biden-Harris transition team. Brendan estimated the cost of various provisions of the American Rescue Plan and of the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan, helped develop its overall budgetary frameworks, and served as the NEC’s point person on supply chain disruption data.
He was also a senior adviser to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and staff director of the U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight as well as a senior policy analyst at the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee. Before returning to the Center, where he previously served as a Tax Policy Analyst, Brendan served as the Senior Director for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Macalester College and a master’s in public affairs from Princeton University.
