Trump in Missouri Lays Groundwork for Tax Overhaul but Offers No Details
In his speech, Mr. Trump hinted at the challenge of securing a cut of the scale he wants, saying, “Ideally —
and I say this for our secretary of the Treasury — we would like to bring our business tax rate down to 15 percent.”
Administration officials are also weighing leaving the top individual tax rate,
which they wanted to lower to 35 percent, at its current 39.6 percent level.
— President Trump on Wednesday pitched a sweeping tax overhaul
that he said would unleash the American economy and help ordinary people, promising that a large corporate tax cut and trims to individual income tax rates would boost the middle class.
Mr. Trump gave few specifics on Wednesday beyond a goal of slashing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, down from 35 percent, and eliminating “loopholes and complexity
that primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans and special interests,” a reference to his call to scrap some itemized deductions in the code.
Mr. Trump portrayed his plan as an evenhanded approach
that would help both businesses and working people, suggesting that his call for scrapping deductions would harm wealthy people such as himself.
Administration officials are now discussing a plan
that would cut the 35 percent corporate tax rate to 20 to 25 percent, substantially higher than the 15 percent the president called for in April.
And with the economy growing at 3 percent — Mr. Trump exulted over the figure during his speech on Wednesday, saying, “I happen to be one who thinks it can go much higher” — the Federal Reserve has warned
that it would move to curb faster growth for fear of inflation.