White House reveals plan for ‘largest tax cut in US history’

DONALD TRUMP last night unveiled his much-heralded plan for reform of America’s tax system, using a speech in Indiana to call for deep cuts to corporate rates and the abolition of inheritance tax.

The plan – the first major US tax reform since 1986 – calls for reducing the US corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 per cent, meaning it would be below the 22.5 per cent average of the industrialised world.

For households, the number of tax brackets would be reduced from seven to three, with a maximum rate of 35 per cent, against 39.6 at present, although the plan also mentions the “potential” for an additional top rate for the highest-income taxpayers.

Mr Trump said that the plan would not benefit him personally. “It’s the largest tax cut essentially in the history of our country,” he said. “It’s going to be something special.”

Paul Ryan, leader of the Republicans in the House, said: “This is our best opportunity in a generation to deliver real middle-class tax relief, create jobs here at home, and fuel unprecedented economic growth.”

It was also a major Trump campaign pledge, which has taken on extra importance after his efforts to enact healthcare reform and build a border wall stalled, but it faces an uphill battle in Congress, with Mr Trump’s own party divided and Democrats hostile.

Bob Corker, a Republican senator for Tennessee, said tax reform required “intestinal fortitude”, adding: “Tax reform is going to make healthcare look like a piece of cake”.