By Richard Rubin and Nick Timiraos
President Donald Trump plans to propose Wednesday what his
administration has billed as the largest tax cut in the country's
history in hopes of spurring economic growth.
The plan calls for 15% tax rates on all businesses, deeper than
the rate cuts proposed by House Republicans. Those rates are likely
to drive Democratic opposition and spark complications in Congress
because changes in tax policy that the Senate can pass on a
party-line vote, under the budget procedure known as
reconciliation, aren't allowed to create long-run budget
deficits.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday morning that
the administration wants permanent policy changes, but that
temporary cuts could be considered, too.
"This is going to be the biggest tax cut and the largest tax
reform in the history of our country," he said at a conference in
Washington sponsored by The Hill newspaper.
Mr. Mnuchin said the tax proposal would seek to prevent wealthy
individuals from taking advantage of a 15% rate for owner-operated
small businesses.
"What this is not going to be is a loophole to let rich people
who should be paying higher rates pay 15%," he said.
It wasn't clear Wednesday how the administration planned to do
that.
Most U.S. businesses are pass-throughs, called that because
their income and deductions pass through to their owners'
individual returns. That group includes many small firms, but also
large global law firms, hedge funds and Mr. Trump's own real-estate
and branding businesses. These businesses don't pay the corporate
tax rate.
The White House is set to release general principles for tax
legislation this afternoon, which will open months of negotiations
in Congress. Other administration officials have said a full
proposal wasn't likely before June and won't be included in the
release of the president's budget next month.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republicans have consensus on the
goals and aims for reducing tax rates.
"We're in agreement on 80%, and then that 20%, we're in the same
ballpark," the Wisconsin Republican said.
Mr. Mnuchin said the administration's proposal won't endorse the
border-adjustment feature that is central to the House GOP plan.
The provision attempts to raise revenue by taxing imports, but not
exports. Mr. Mnuchin said the administration wasn't opposed to the
provision in concept and that he liked aspects of it. But he said,
"We don't think it works in its current form."
Mr. Ryan hasn't backed down on the border-adjustment idea, but
he said Wednesday that he knows the proposal needs modifications in
response to criticism from retailers and others. "We don't want to
have severe disruptions," Mr. Ryan said.
Mr. Mnuchin said he hoped Democrats would support the plan, but
Republicans have been working for months under the assumption they
will need to pass legislation without Democratic votes. "I hope
they won't stand in the way," said Mr. Mnuchin. "As you know,
there's multiple ways of doing this, and the president is
determined that we will have tax reform."
To advance legislation through the Senate with a 51-vote
majority, a tax bill can't add to deficits beyond a decade. Tax
cuts passed by President George W. Bush, for example, lapsed after
a decade because they increased deficits, though Congress later
made some provisions permanent.
"The goal is to make it permanent, but there's lots of levers
here," said Mr. Mnuchin. "If we have them for 10 years, that's
better than nothing, but we'd like permanence to it."
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the
proposal to cut tax rates for pass-through businesses would just
benefit high-income people like the president himself.
"The very wealthy are doing pretty well in America," Mr. Schumer
said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. "God bless them. Let them do
well. They don't need another huge tax break."
The White House has said it believes its tax plans can boost the
U.S. growth rate from around 2% over the past decade to 3%, a feat
many economists say would require sharp growth in the productivity
of the workforce, which has slumped.
"The president and I and others in this administration
fundamentally think we can get to 3% sustained economic growth,"
said Mr. Mnuchin.
Trump administration officials say they will rely on those
optimistic growth projections to assume any cuts will generate
substantial higher revenues to offset declines from lower rates.
Most tax specialists say such cuts are unlikely to fully pay
themselves.
Mr. Mnuchin said many of the details of any tax overhaul would
be spelled out later.
Still, Wednesday's announcement from the administration is
notable because two weeks ago, Mr. Trump said he wasn't prepared to
discuss tax policy until after Congress had made more headway on a
stalled health care bill. He reversed course last week in
announcing plans to release some principles on taxes.
Analysts said the health-care imbroglio highlighted the long
road ahead for taxes.
"The sugar high of tax cut headlines could turn into a nagging
headache once stakeholders return to the painstaking consideration
of process and pay-fors," said Isaac Boltansky, an analyst at
Compass Point Research & Trading, an investment firm focused on
the financial services sector, in a client note Wednesday.
Write to Richard Rubin at richard.rubin@wsj.com and Nick
Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 26, 2017 12:19 ET (16:19 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.