By Alex Leary 

WASHINGTON -- A top Trump administration official said Thursday a middle-class tax-cut proposal could be unveiled during the 2020 presidential campaign, adding a new layer to a set of conflicting messages from the White House.

"You very may well see a new rollout of additional, additional middle-class tax relief and small-business tax relief," Lawrence Kudlow, the White House National Economic Council director, said Thursday evening on Fox Business Network.

President Trump said Wednesday tax-cut proposals weren't being considered, contradicting remarks he had made a day earlier amid reports of a slowing economy.

"There is nothing in the near term, that's what the president was getting at," Mr. Kudlow said. "We believe the economy is quite healthy, we expect some relief on short-term interest rates coming up from the Fed and so forth. But longer run, why not?"

Mr. Kudlow and others have long talked about "tax cuts 2.0" to follow a sweeping package Congress approved in late 2017. The White House earlier this week dismissed a report it was considering a payroll-tax cut as a buffer against recession. The next day, though, Mr. Trump gave life to the idea and other tax cuts, only to change course the following day.

"What he was referring to was something immediate or urgent or, you know, antirecession, we just don't buy that scenario," Mr. Kudlow said.

The president had said he would propose a middle-class tax cut before the 2018 midterm elections, but details never emerged.

Write to Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 22, 2019 20:36 ET (00:36 GMT)