Trump’s tax cuts
President Donald Trump proposes sharp reductions in income tax rates and reducing the number of individual income tax brackets to three.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday proposed sharp reductions in individual and business income tax rates and a radical reordering of the tax code that would significantly benefit the wealthy, but he offered no explanation of how the plan would be financed as he rushed to show progress before the 100-day mark of his presidency Saturday.
Trump’s skeletal outline of a tax package, unveiled at the White House in a singlepage statement filled with bullet points, was less a tax plan than a wish list. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, the director of Trump’s National Economic Council, laid out the bare bones to reporters.
But they offered none of the standard accouterments of such rollouts, such as detailed charts showing the cost of each provision, phase-in periods, the effects of the proposals on people and testimonials on the program’s
potential benefits.
The proposal envisions slashing the tax rate paid by businesses large and small to 15 percent. The number of individual income tax brackets would shrink from seven to three — 10, 25 and 35 percent — easing the tax burden on most Americans.
The president would eliminate the estate tax and alternative minimum tax, a parallel system that primarily hits wealthier people.
Trump wants to double the standard deduction for individuals. But the president would leave in place popular breaks for mortgage interest, charitable contributions and retirement savings.
Democrats condemned it as a giveaway to the rich masquerading as a tax overhaul.
“This is an unprincipled tax plan that will result in cuts for the 1 percent, conflicts for the president, crippling debt for America and crumbs for the working people,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking member of the Finance Committee.
As expected, the White House did not include in its plan the border adjustment tax on imports that was a centerpiece of a plan developed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
Mnuchin said the White House could not support that proposal “in its current form,” setting up an intraparty struggle over the elements of a tax plan and how to offset the deep reductions envisioned.