U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin cast doubt on Tuesday on President Donald Trump’s goal of cutting the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, even as the president moved to inject new urgency into a sluggish effort in Congress to lower taxes.
“Ideally, he’d like to get it down to 15 percent. I don’t know if we’ll be able to achieve that given the budget issues, but we’re going to get this down to a very competitive level,” Mnuchin told a conference in New York hosted by CNBC.
Mnuchin declined to say what business tax rate was achievable. He said he was “incredibly hopeful” a tax plan could be enacted this year, adding it could be retroactive to January.
Asked whether Trump would hold out for a 15 percent corporate tax rate, compared with the current 35 percent, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: “The president is prepared to push for as low of a rate as we can get. We’re going to continue to push for that and work for Congress to make sure we get the best deal possible.”
Republican Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, said last week that “the numbers are hard” to make Trump’s 15 percent corporate tax rate target work. Ryan set his own goal at around 22.5 percent.
Reference: Reuters
Thai
Eng