President Trump delivered his final pitch for tax reform in remarks from the White House on Wednesday, during which he claimed Americans could see “bigger paychecks” as soon as February if congressional Republicans pass their tax bill next week.
“If Congress sends me a bill before Christmas, the IRS — this is breaking news — the IRS has confirmed that taxpayers will begin seeing it in their paychecks beginning in February,” the president said.
It was not immediately clear whether the tax agency had made that guarantee in private conversations with the White House, or planned to reveal the source of the president’s claim.
Trump’s closing argument for historic tax reform comes as House and Senate Republicans are ironing out the details of their final bill before taking congressional GOP leaders bring the legislation to a vote in both chambers next week.
The president said the legislative deal reached Wednesday would include a more generous tax credit for American families, a lower marginal rate for the country’s highest-income earners, and a corporate rate somewhere between 20 and 21 percent.
The final bill is also said to include certain changes to state and local tax deductions, which several Republicans from high-tax states urged GOP leaders to keep in place, and preserves the alternative minimum tax, which the House’s version sought to eliminate.
Democrats have fiercely criticized their GOP counterparts for pushing to land the bill on Trump’s desk by the end of next week. Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday urged Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to postpone a vote on whatever legislation comes out of conference until Alabama Sen.-elect Doug Jones is seated.
But McConnell and Ryan have signaled that they intend to move forward quickly to help the White House fulfill its promise to deliver tax cuts by Christmas.
“We’re very close to getting it done. We’re very close to voting,” Trump said earlier Wednesday, during a meeting with bicameral tax reform conferees.
