Skeptics Chime in as Mnuchin Promises Imminent Tax Reform

The Trump administration plans to produce its tax code reform plan “soon,” according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Stock prices jumped to a daytime high Thursday, following Mnuchin’s speech at the Institute of International Finance Washington Policy Summit. However, skeptics questioned the announcement, which comes more than two months after President Donald Trump said his plan to reform business taxes would be released in “two or three weeks.”

“Clearly they’re saying what they’d like to believe is true,” said Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “We now know that we must heavily discount their assertions,” said Bernstein.

Republican attempts to pass legislation replacing the Affordable Care Act failed in March, and the administration plans to refocus its efforts on healthcare reform when Congress reconvenes next week, following a two-week recess.

“Whether health care gets done or health care doesn’t get done, we’re going to get tax reform done,” Mnuchin said at the policy conference Thursday. “We hope that this won’t take until the end of the year.”

The number one tax-related concern of small businesses today is the possible elimination of deductions and credits without an offsetting reduction in tax rates. According to the National Small Business Association (NSBA) survey of 950 small businesses, small businesses owners said they are concerned that Trump’s tax reform will lower rates for corporations but not small businesses that file under the individual tax code.

According to White House chief economic advisor Gary Cohn, the administration plans to come up with a unified, united tax proposal that will include individual as well as corporate reform that would align with Trump’s campaign promises. Republicans’ proposed Border Adjustment Tax (BAT), which taxes domestic sales and imports while exempting exports, has sparked controversy among many U.S. businesses; according to the NSBA survey, 67 percent of small business owners said the BAT tax wouldn’t impact their businesses directly.