News / Economy

US treasury secretary promises biggest tax cut in history

Wednesday, 26 April 2017 4:46 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 26 April 2017 5:22 PM ]

US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin during a briefing at the White House April 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the administration of President Donald Trump will overhaul America’s “very uncompetitive” tax system with what he said would be “the biggest tax cut” in US history.

Trump is proposing to cut the corporate income tax rate and offer multinational businesses a steep tax break on overseas profits brought into the United States, Mnuchin said Wednesday during an interview in Washington.

“We want to simplify the personal tax system, lower taxes and create economic growth. This is going to be the biggest tax cut and largest tax reform in the history of our country,” Mnuchin said.

Among the proposals are a reduction in the corporation tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, and an easing of tax for small businesses to the same rate.

Mnuchin did not apply a deadline to passing a tax plan but said the White House wants a "combined plan" with the House and Senate.

He also said the Trump administration plans to “do the whole thing,” and not pursue tax reform piece by piece.

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Analysts expect that the plan would potentially add billions of dollars to the federal deficit because it does not include any proposals for raising new revenue to offset that lost by the tax cuts.

The treasury secretary also explained that enacting tax reform legislation before August was not “realistic.”

The Trump administration has pledged to upend a long prevailing trade policy through renegotiating or scrapping trade agreements, imposing tariffs and using bilateral trade agreements.

With almost 100 days in office, however, Trump has not managed to win approval of any of the measures he promised in his campaign, despite the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress.

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