Trump Revealed A Blueprint For A Tax Cuts Not Actual Legislation Verbiage

President Trump plans to unveil a tax cut blueprint — not an actual bill —that would apply a vastly reduced, 15 percent business tax rate not only to corporations but also to companies that now pay taxes through the personal income tax code — from mom-and-pop businesses to his own real estate empire, according to several people briefed on the proposal. Unless you can read the actual verbiage in a bill there could be a lot of negatives hiding between the lines.

The package would also increase the standard deduction for individuals, providing a modest cut for middle-income people and simplifying the process of filing tax returns, according to people briefed on its details. That proposal is opposed by home builders and real estate agents, who fear it would diminish the importance of the mortgage interest deduction. And it is likely to necessitate eliminating or curbing other popular deductions, a politically risky pursuit.

According to sources the plan does not include Mr. Trump’s promised $1 trillion infrastructure program, two of the people said, and it jettisoned a House Republican proposal to impose a substantial tax on imports, known as a border adjustment tax, which would have raised billions of dollars to help offset the cost of the cuts. 

At a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer casually announced that Trump’s tax plan will not protect tax deductions for 401(k) retirement savings accounts:

“The current plan right now both protects charitable giving and mortgage interest, and that’s it.”

Spicer was doubling down on a statement from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin at yesterday’s briefing where he said, “we are going to eliminate on the personal side all tax deductions other than mortgage interest and charitable deductions.”