President Trump’s chief economic adviser said Thursday that he could not guarantee that every middle-class American would pay less under the GOP tax reform plan, but that is the goal.
“Our tax plan is aimed to return more income back to hardworking Americans. That’s what we’re trying to do here,” said Gary Cohn, chairman of the president’s National Economic Council.
He was pushing back at criticism that the tax reform outline released Wednesday was skewed toward the wealthy and corporations.
“Our tax plan is aimed at making sure we give middle class Americans a tax cut. We are going to give middle class Americans a tax cut,” he told reporters at the daily White House press briefing.
However, he said that reporters likely could find a case where someone who doesn’t get a tax cut.
“You can find someone in the country that their taxes may not go down,” he said. “Remember, we have 50 states, we have counties, we have cities, we have long-term capital gains, we have short-term capital gains, we have all different types of structures in the tax code — I’ll guarantee you can find someone in this country, maybe one person who their taxes may not go down.”
Despite that, he said most middle-class Americans would benefit from the reforms, which include nearly doubling the standard deduction to make tax-free the first $24,000 earned by married couples filing jointly.
He said that under current assumptions, a typical married couple with two children who use standard deduction would save an extra $1,000 under the plan.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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