WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the wealthiest Americans could pay more in taxes under the tax reform plan being drafted.
The President’s comments were made at the top of a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday at the White House.
“The rich will not be gaining at all with this plan. We are looking for the middle class and we are looking for jobs — jobs being the economy. So we’re looking at middle class and we’re looking at jobs,” said Trump.
“I think the wealthy will be pretty much where they are, pretty much where they are. … If they have to go higher, they’ll go higher,” he added.
Trump told reporters, “This includes tax reform that is pro-jobs, pro-growth, pro-family, and pro-America.”
Details of the tax plan have been closely guarded. House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady told Breitbart News last week during a press gaggle in the Capitol building that he expects a tax reform bill to pass by the end of the year. However, when pressed, Brady could not give a timeline for when text of a bill will be released for Americans to view.
On Wednesday Brady said a “consensus document with the core elements of big, bold tax reform” will be released on September 25 according to the Washington Times. “When we return the week of the 25th, we will release the consensus document with President Trump and Senate tax writers and then we will move forward on the budget issue,” said Brady according to CNN.
Tax reform has been highlighted as a priority of the Trump Administration. Several administration officials have asserted over the course of Trump’s time in office that a tax reform bill will pass by year’s end.
Trump has been holding bipartisan meetings with lawmakers this week, during which tax reform has been a topic.
Trump told the press at the top of Wednesday’s meeting that tax reform would consist of four principles:
- Make the tax code simple and fair.
- Cut taxes substantially. It will be the largest decrease in the history of our country for the middle class.
- Encourage companies to hire and grow in America.
- Bring back trillions of dollars — we have trillions of dollars overseas — that we’ll bring back and we’ll bring it back quickly.
Asked how low he wants to see the corporate rate in a bipartisan tax reform bill, Trump replied, “We want a 15 percent rate because that would bring us low, not by any means the lowest. But it would bring us to a level where China and other countries are. And we will be able to compete with anybody.”
The group of bipartisan House members included in the Wednesday meeting with Trump were: Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN), Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA), Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ), Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY), Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY), Rep. GT Thompson (R-PA), Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT).
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