Mnuchin: Changes at ‘high end’
On TV, he says he never vowed rich wouldn’t see cuts in tax reform plan
SOMERSET, N.J. - President Donald Trump is promising “the largest tax cut in the history of our country” that will slash rates for the middle class and corporations to spark economic growth and jobs.
Trump said Sunday his “primary focus” is the tax overhaul rather than lastditch efforts to bring a repeal of the Obama health care program. The health care legislation brought forward by Republicans teetered near failure over the weekend, though said “eventually we will win on that.”
Trump said the tax plan that the White House and congressional Republicans have been working on for months, for the first major overhaul of the tax system in three decades, is “totally finalized.” He was speaking on the tarmac at the Morristown Municipal Airport.
Trump’s details weren’t firm. He said “I hope” the top corporate tax rate will be cut to 15 percent from the current 35 percent. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said a 15 percent rate is impractically low, with a rate somewhere in the low- to mid-20 percent range more viable to avoid blowing out the deficit.
The rate is “going to be substantially lower so we bring jobs back into our country,” Trump said.
Trump said “We think we’re going to bring the individual rate to 10 percent or 12 percent, much lower than it is right now.” He did not say whether the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans, now at 39.6 percent would be cut, as some Republicans have advocated.
“This is a plan for the middle class and for companies, so they can bring back jobs,” he said.
The plan is expected to reduce the number of tax brackets from seven to three. Trump spoke as House Republicans on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee huddled behind closed doors to discuss the plan. They have promised to reveal an outline and possible details of the plan later this week, after all Republican lawmakers in the House get a chance to discuss it and put questions to the chief architects, including Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who heads the Ways and Means panel.
“We’ll let the White House determine the timetable” of releasing the plan, Brady said. He added it will “definitely” occur this week.