Trump says ‘major tax cut’ on the way for middle class
President Trump said his administration and the Republican Party are working to introduce a “major” 10 percent tax cut for middle-class Americans around the beginning of November.
“We’re putting in a resolution sometime in the next week or week-and a-half, two weeks … we’re giving a middle-income tax reduction of about 10 percent – we’re doing it now – for middle-income people,” he told reporters at the White House on Monday. “That’s on top of the tax decrease that we’ve already given.”
In a statement on Tuesday, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, confirmed he was working with the administration on the measure.
The president said on Saturday that he was hoping to introduce the tax cuts around the beginning of November, though he noted on Monday that the new tax resolution was unlikely to be voted on before the midterm elections since Congress is out of session through the middle of next month.
Trump said that while the previous tax cuts benefited both the middle class and businesses, the next plan would focus solely on helping middle-income Americans.
FOX Business has a request in to the White House for more details. However, it should be noted that Congress will not be in session until after the midterm elections.
One potential strategy being discussed by the administration is holding a symbolic vote in Congress, which would signal its intent to implement the new tax cut in the future. That plan, first reported by The Washington Post, is one of several options being considered, sources told FOX Business on Tuesday.
The House of Representatives voted to advance a new tax package in September. That bill, known as Tax Cuts 2.0, would make some parts of the initial round of tax cuts -- known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 -- permanent, introduce a number of provisions to help Americans save more and expand tax breaks for startup businesses. Republican congressional leadership expressed doubt that bill would pass before the midterms because it was unlikely to win any Democratic votes in the Senate.
The Trump administration signed a major overhaul to the U.S. tax code at the end of last year, which has become a point of contention as the midterm elections approach. Critics say the 2017 tax overhaul has only benefited corporations and the wealthy and also increased the federal budget deficit.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., introduced legislation last week that aimed to repeal parts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in order to pay for refundable tax credits for working-class Americans. Her bill would provide families with a refundable tax credit for as much as $6,000 per year, or $500 per month, to live on.
Harris positioned her proposal in opposition to the Republicans’ tax cuts – which she said are “tax breaks for the top 1 [percent] and corporations.”
FOX Business' Blake Burman contributed to this article.