Mnuchin says Trump tax cuts will be the biggest in history

Mnuchin says Trump tax cuts will be the biggest in history



The Trump administration proposed an overhaul of the tax code on Wednesday that could allow many Americans to file their annual tax returns on a single sheet of paper – and cuts their taxes, eliminating them entirely on the first $24,000 of income earned by a married couple.

'It's a great plan,' President Trump told reporters Wednesday after the blueprint that was scant on firm details was unveiled. 'It's going to put people back to work.'

National Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Gary Cohn complained during a White House briefing that low- and middle-income Americans 'have been left behind by this economy' and are 'frustrated by a tax code that is so complicated they can't even do their own taxes.'

'In 1935 we had a one-page tax form consisting of 34 lines with two pages of instructions,' Cohn recalled. 'Today the basic 1040 form has 79 lines and 211 pages of instructions.'

As the tax code is simplified, he boasted, 'far fewer taxpayers will need to itemize' their deductions, which means their tax form can go back, yes, to that one simple page.'

Cohn said that Americans spend nearly 7 billion hours complying with tax requirements each year, and nearly 9 out of 10 of them can't file their own returns without help.



Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin promised 'massive reform and simplification,' while Cohn said the 'basic premise here is to simplify the tax system, lower rates, and make it easy.'

'We don't want to penalize people. We want to make the system very fair,' Cohn said.

'This isn't going to be easy,' he cautioned. 'Doing big things never is.'

'We will be attacked from the left and we'll be attacked from the right, but one thing is certain: I would never, ever bet against this president. He will get this done for the American people.'

Overall, the Trump plan seeks a reduction in the number of income brackets, eliminates the death tax and slashes the corporate tax rate.

A childcare tax credit the president's daughter Ivanka has been pushing is also on Trump's list of priorities, as was a pledge to get rid of almost every personal deduction.

'We are going to eliminate on the personal side all tax deductions other than mortgage interest and charitable deductions. We think that will be sweeping reform,' Mnuchin said.

A White House official walked the statement back just after, saying that the administration was taking a 'hard look' at other deductions and would cut many, but not all of of them.

Deductions for charitable giving and mortgage are the only sacred cows the Trump administration is planning on protecting.

A document distributed by the White House on Wednesday calls for three tax brackets of 10, 25 and 35 per cent. Trump reduces the corporate tax rate to 15 per cent from 35 percent.

The administration believes it will be offset by a subsequent escalation in economic growth to 3 percent or higher.

'This is going to be the biggest tax cut and the largest tax reform in the history of our country, and we are committed to seeing this through,' Mnuchin said at a Washington D.C. conference on tax policy hosted by The Hill.

Trump initially considered including infrastructure reform in his tax request but sliced it out in the end.

A one-time repatriation tax that was intended by the senators who proposed it to support the Highway Trust Fund remained on the list, even though Mnuchin said Wednesday that Trump's transportation principles were being separated out.

The inclusion of the Democratic-favored proposal was supposedly part of a White House strategy to get votes from the other side.



In a televised with The Hill, Mnuchin said the administration would begin with the principles it believes should be affirmed with legislation and go from there.

'I'm hopeful that Democrats will work with us on this,' he said. 'We're hopeful that it's bipartisan.'

Trump's proposal to cut the corporate tax rate by more than half has liberals howling



'We are all anxious to review Trump's tax plan and all the ways in which it will benefit the Trump Organization,' Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters tweeted this morning.

Liberal Sen. Ron Wyden hit Cohn and Mnuchin for an awkward interaction with reporters in which they could not say how the proposal would help the middle class.

'And yet the Trump team couldn't tell you what the tax plan means for the typical American family. Self-serving & elitist,' he tweeted.

Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said, 'The Trump tax plan stacks the deck even more in favor of the super wealthy and companies like his.'

Liberal environmentalist and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer said it's generous to refer to what Trump put out - a one-page document that looked like a campaign memo - as a plan.

'To call proposal 'tax reform' is inaccurate. To call it 'half-baked' is kind. To call it 'self-serving' is accurate,' he tweeted.

Trump is asking lawmakers to lower the corporate rate from 35