Trump to get tax plan targeting 20% corporate rate

Republican tax negotiators are targeting a corporate tax rate of 20 per cent, according to two people familiar with the matter. That would be higher than President Donald Trump wants —setting up a key decision for the president on a top legislative priority.

 

Trump has called for cutting the corporate rate to 15 per cent, down from the current 35 per cent. The plan he’ll see this week is also expected to recommend cutting the top individual tax rate to 35 per cent, down from 39.6 per cent, two people familiar with the matter said.

 

Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have said previously that they didn’t want the tax plan to offer any tax cut to the highest earners —and that they’d balance a rate cut by eliminating deductions that the wealthy use to reduce their tax bills. Mnuchin said in November, weeks after Trump’s election, that “there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class”.

 

Reminded of that on Sunday, Mnuchin said: “It was never a promise and it was never a pledge.” But he said again during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the tax plan that’s coming this week will be “getting rid of lots of deductions”.

 

“The current plan—for many, many people, it will not reduce taxes on the high end,” Mnuchin said. He also said the plan will provide a middle-income tax cut and said it wouldcreate jobs.

 

Mnuchin didn’t mention specific tax rates. Nor did Marc Short, the White House legislative affairs director, during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. “The president will have to sign off on that and he’ll make his announcement on Wednesday,” Short said.