U.S. President Donald Trump looks up while hosting a House and Senate leadership lunch at the White House in Washington, on March 1, 2017.Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump will call for cutting taxes for individuals and lowering the corporate rate to 15 per cent to fulfill a promise he made during his campaign, according to a White House official.
The President on Wednesday plans to make public the broad outlines of what he wants to change in the tax code, though the details likely will be left until later negotiations among congressional leaders and officials from Treasury. The Wall Street Journal reported the corporate rate cut earlier.
Mr. Trump's top economic adviser Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will brief House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the leaders of congressional tax-writing committees – House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch.
The tax-plan release will come in the middle of a busy week in which the White House and congressional leaders are working against a Saturday deadline to negotiate a spending deal to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government.
Mr. Trump is also pushing House Republicans to re-start work on a replacement for Obamacare after the last attempt imploded in March when conservatives walked away.
Mr. Mnuchin has signalled previously that the administration is more concerned about spurring economic growth and job creation than with the impact on government revenue.
He said Monday that Mr. Trump is "very determined" that the United States can achieve sustained economic growth of 3 per cent or greater, which would pay for the tax cuts along with "trillions of dollars" brought in from offshore havens.
"The tax plan will pay for itself with economic growth," Mr. Mnuchin said.
Mr. Mnuchin told reporters that Mr. Trump's principles will include a "middle income tax cut" and cuts in business classes, as well as "simplification" of the code so most Americans can file taxes "on a postcard."
The President likely won't include a controversial border-adjusted tax that Mr. Ryan has backed, a senior administration official said last week.