A B-2 during a mission in the European Theater. Photo: Sgt Ken Bergmann, U.S. Air Force.

Donald Trump is now apparently planning to request a $600 billion increase in annual military spending starting in October, financed by another huge jump in import taxes (tariffs). I said “apparently” since it’s not clear that he thinks he has to request authority for this spending increase or massive tax hike from Congress.

Under the Constitution there is no ambiguity on these issues. Congress has the power to tax and authorize spending. However, Donald Trump and the Republican Congress have not shown much respect for the Constitution in Trump’s second term and it’s not clear the Supreme Court has any greater level of respect. So, who knows if there actually will be requests for Congress to vote on, or whether he will just do it with no legal authority.

Anyhow, apart from the mechanism employed, this would be a massive increase in spending, coming to just under 2 percent of GDP. It would also amount to a massive tax increase if Trump actually offsets the spending, as he claimed he would, rather than just increasing the deficit.

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