U.S. Treasury's Mnuchin Says Will Unveil Tax Reform Plan 'Very Soon'

The Trump administration will unveil a tax reform plan very soon and expects it will be approved by Congress this year whether a healthcare overhaul happens or not, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday.

"It will be soon, very soon," Mnuchin told a conference on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington.

Mnuchin said the Treasury was working on tax reform options "day and night" but he gave few specifics. "It will be sweeping, it will be significant and it will create a lot of economic growth," he said.

President Donald Trump campaigned on promises to lower taxes and boost economic growth. Trump, who took office in January, suffered a setback last month when the Republican-controlled Congress pulled a proposal to overhaul health care rules that would have generated savings for public coffers.

Trump has since said the administration will continue trying to replace health care legislation enacted by his predecessor, Barack Obama, though Mnuchin said tax reform will move forward even if health laws stay the same.

"Whether health care gets done or health care doesn't get done, we’re going to get tax reform done," he said,

Trump's tax plan would lower rates but most of the revenue lost under that plank of the reform would be gained back by boosting economic growth, Mnuchin said. "The plan will pay for itself with growth."

(Reporting by Jason Lange and Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)