President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that his tax cuts would leave Americans with cash burning a hole in their pockets.
‘You’re gonna have so much money to spend in this wonderful country and this great economy,’ he promised.
Trump said he expects he expects his tax plan to pass with Republican support in the Senate ‘and maybe a few of those Democrats to raise their hand’ as he addressed truckers in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, early this evening in the latest stop on a cross-country tour.
His remarks were aimed at selling a tax reform proposal that Trump’s White House is estimating will result in a $4,000 pay raise for average American family.
President Donald Trump will pitch his tax plan as a boon for truckers in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania this afternoon
Ahead of the journey, Trump accused Democrats of backing ‘MASSIVE tax increase,’ unlike his political party, which is moving toward ‘massive tax cuts (and reform)’
Trump spoke in front of an audience of roughly 1,000 people, including lots of truckers, against a backdrop of big rigs at a local air plane hangar, according to the White House.
Ahead of the journey, Trump accused Democrats of backing ‘MASSIVE tax increase,’ unlike his political party, which is moving toward ‘massive tax cuts (and reform).’
‘The Republicans want the biggest tax cut in history & the WALL!’ he said, bringing up his proposal to erect a barrier between the United States and Mexico.
Trump is pitching a plan that would dramatically cut corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 20 percent, reduce the number of personal income tax brackets and boost the standard deduction.
At today’s event, Trump argued his tax reform framework will benefit truckers by lowering their tax rates, boosting manufacturing, and making it easier for families to pass their trucking businesses onto their children.
Trump has left it up to Congress to fill in many specifics of his plan, which leaves out details such as which income levels his new tax brackets would apply to.
Trump’s proposal includes cutting the top income tax rate, getting rid of the alternative minimum tax, and eliminating the federal estate tax.
He also wants to encourage multinational companies to bring back, or repatriate, cash that they’ve kept overseas. All told, there’s more than $1 trillion in cash held abroad by S&P 500 companies, according to Deutsche Bank.
Trump was also due to preview his Council of Economic Advisers’ estimate that this change alone would likely give the typical American household a $4,000 pay raise.’
The $4,000 in additional income estimate comes from a back of the envelope calculation by White House economics adviser Kevin Hassett based on companies returning 71 percent of their foreign profits over the course of eight years.
This estimate appears to assume that the returned profits would flow to workers in the form of higher wages. But many economists say much of it would likely be returned to investors in the form of stock dividends and buybacks.
A senior official couldn’t say how the White House arrived at that number on a call with reporters in advance of the trip on Tuesday.
The official said Hassett and the council of economic advisors would provide more information on that very shortly.