Mnuchin: More tax details coming shortly

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that the White House and key congressional Republicans are likely to release more tax-reform details in the next several weeks.

Mnuchin told The Wall Street Journal that he expected a tax blueprint with more specifics to come out in the coming weeks, but that “it’s not a 100-page bill with every single detail.” 

The treasury secretary also said in a CNBC interview Thursday that people will “see the details come out later this month,” likely referring to September.

{mosads}

“It’s going to go through a committee process, and we expect the House and the Senate will get this to the president to sign this year, and we couldn’t be more excited about the progress we’ve made,” Mnuchin told CNBC.

Mnuchin’s comments come one day after President Trump launched his efforts to sell a tax code rewrite to lawmakers and the public in a speech in Springfield, Mo. Trump’s speech didn’t get into many specifics and instead focused broadly on why an overhaul of the tax code is needed to help the middle class.

“What the president is focused on is explaining to the American public why tax reform is important,” Mnuchin said in his interview with CNBC. “it’s about creating American jobs, it’s about creating competitive business so that we can bring back trillions of dollars and have it invested here, and it’s about a middle-income tax cut and tax simplification.”

In his speech, Trump said that he ideally wants the tax rate on business income to be lowered to 15 percent. Mnuchin told CNBC that 15 percent is the “ideal rate” but that “wherever we end up, the objective is to get a competitive business rate.” The corporate tax rate is currently 35 percent.

The Treasury secretary is a member of a group of administration officials and GOP lawmakers known as the “Big Six” who are taking the lead on tax reform. Other members include Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.

The “Big Six” released a joint statement in July outlining tax principles, and the group is expected to meet with President Trump on Tuesday.