Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Thursday could not guarantee that middle class families would not pay more under the White House’s detail-free tax proposal.
Mnuchin evaded the question multiple times in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
“This is about middle-income tax cuts,” Mnuchin said, asked how the proposal he announced Wednesday with National Economic Director Gary Cohn would affect a family of four earning $60,000 a year.
“And although we’re not releasing the specific numbers, this is about creating economic effects and tax cuts for the middle class.”
“But don’t the details matter?” Stephanopoulos asked. “Why can’t you say how this is going to affect a middle class family?”
“The issue is that we are working with the House and the Senate, and our objective is to turn this into a bill that will pass, and the President will sign,” Mnuchin said.
“Can you guarantee that no one in the middle class is going to pay more?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“That’s our objective, absolutely,” Mnuchin said.
“Is it a guarantee?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“I can’t make any guarantees until this thing is done and on the President’s desk, but I can tell you that’s our number one objective in this,” Mnuchin said.
Mnuchin similarly evaded Stephanopoulos’ questions about upper income taxes. The host asked repeatedly about the alternative minimum tax, without which Trump would have saved tens of millions of dollars in 2005, the most recent year for which some of his tax returns were made public. Trump has proposed repealing the alternative minimum tax.
“Let me just say this isn’t about President Trump’s tax returns; this is about the American public’s tax returns,” Mnuchin said.
The interview recalled the roll-out of the plan Wednesday — just in time for Trump’s 100th day in office, on April 29 — in which Mnuchin and Cohn handed out a one page outline of the tax plan to reporters, but offered virtually no information otherwise.
Pressed repeatedly about Trump’s tax returns, Mnuchin refused to pursue the topic. Eventually, though, he assured Stephanopoulos that the White House was meeting with some important stakeholders in the effort to reform individual and corporate taxes.
“We’ve met with hundreds and hundreds of business executives who have had input into this,” he said.
Watch the exchange below via ABC:
In other words, there will be NO ANALYSIS on the effects of this UNTIL IT IS LAW.
“Trust us.”
Shuck and five, man, shuck and jive. It’s not that you can’t answer the question, you won’t. Because the answer is bad.
The following are excerpts from several paywall newspaper articles that to me hit the highlights of what was said by Cohn/Munuchin. There was more detail in the business press.
There’s an important caveat at the end of this.
Begin newspaper stuff:
Officials didn’t say how much the plan would reduce federal revenue or grow the debt, or what income levels would encompass the three new tax brackets.
Cohn: “Our tax plan is a big leg of that stool. It’s a big leg. And in many respects, he thinks it’s the most important leg.”
Business groups were opposed.The National Association of Realtors called the proposal a “non-starter,” and that it would remove tax incentives for people to buy homes because of changes to deductions.
WSJ: ‘Fist bumps’ at hedge funds over Trump’s tax plan treatment of Carried Interest Income
Republicans, who upbraided Obama for planning to raise the deficit, must decide whether to back a plan budget experts say will add to record levels of government debt. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget concluded the plan would lead to a loss in government revenue by roughly $5.5 trillion over 10 years.
Democrats must decide whether to negotiate with a president who is threatening to pull away tax revenue that pays for many social programs.
Cohn said they would preserve tax breaks for mortgage interest, retirement savings and charitable giving. But almost all others would be jettisoned, including the tax deduction people claim for the state and local taxes they pay each calendar year, a provision that saves taxpayers more than $1 trillion every 10 years. Taxes are particularly high in states such as California and New York, so the change could be deeply felt there.
Trump’s proposal would lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent. It would also allow millions of small businesses, structured in such a way that they are affected by the individual tax rate, to use the 15 percent rate as well. These businesses, known as “pass-throughs” or “S corporations,” are often small, family-owned firms…they can also be large law firms and lobbying shops, with highly paid top executives. Mnuchin said special protections would ensure that the wealthiest of these earners don’t take advantage of the 15 percent rate, although he didn’t say how the White House would do this.
"We expect that trillions of dollars will come back on shore and will be reinvested here in the United States, for capital goods and job creation,” Mnuchin said.
This controversial process is called “repatriation”. Critics allege that the money is brought back and then paid out in dividends to shareholders instead of being used for hiring and investing.
“This is what’s important to get the American economy going,” Mnuchin said. “So I hope [Democrats] don’t stand in the way. And I hope we see many Democrats who cross the aisle and support this. Having said that, if they don’t, we are prepared to look at the reconciliation process.”
Republicans hold 52 seats in the chamber, and without 60 votes, Trump and his fellow Republicans would only be able to pass more narrowly tailored, temporary cuts.
Holtz-Eakin(wingnut ex-Bush Budget director)“Proposing trillions of dollars in tax cuts and then casually asserting that such a plan would pay for itself with growth, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, is detached from empirical reality.”
Holtz-Eakin:“Sailing straight into a sovereign debt crisis is not a pro-growth strategy. What firm would want to headquarter in a country that is toying with financial meltdown accompanied by emergency austerity and tax hikes?”
End newspaper excerpts. The following is my opinion.
Most important additional info that I heard: Jim Cramer got an opinion from a tax expert stating that to pass any of this throough reconciliation “in a meaningful way” the cuts would need to “sunset” in TWO YEARS. TWO YEARS, NOT TEN. NOT A TAX OVERHAUL, A TAX HOLIDAY.
BUSINESSES WON’T plan based on that time frame. If it’s true, to them the whole thing is smoke and mirrors.
Stool, indeed. Mr. Cohn: Hold that thought.
I am a duplicitous lying sack of shit.
I have no shame
This and the ability to push a Trump fantasy as reality is what got me the job.
We’re all rich so we really don’t give a fuck about some grovelling chump making 60k a year
Loser or what
We all sit around and have a good laugh after the presser
These Trump sociopaths are so completely out of control they don’t even know it. So drunk with power, they think they can say anything and it won’t matter.
Still, I continue to believe there will be a backlash in 2018. People aren’t completely dumb. They know when they are being had.
Until Trump releases his tax returns I’m opposed to any of his tax proposals—they sound to me as benefiting Trump more than anyone else.