President Trump said he is mulling a cut to payroll taxes to keep the U.S. economy firing, just hours after White house officials denied the idea was under consideration.
His comments, made in the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon as he greeted Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, show the perils of being a spokesman for such a freewheeling figure.
The White House has pushed back repeatedly at growing fears of a recession, accusing the media of ignoring positive economic indicators, even as reports surfaced that a cut in payroll taxes was under consideration as a way of boosting consumer confidence.
Hogan Gidley, principal deputy press secretary, appeared on Fox News on Tuesday morning to say that the economy remained healthy and that he had been in a White House meeting where a number of options were discussed. A payroll tax cut was not among them, he said.
“It’s not being considered at this time,” he added.
But by the afternoon, Trump offered a different answer.
“Payroll taxes is something I have been thinking about,” he told reporters. “Many people would like to see that.”
However, he added that he was not planning to make any moves on taxes “at this moment.”
He also said he would like to see the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a full percentage point but insisted the economy was healthy.
“We’re very far from a recession,” he said.
The White House has been talking up the economy in recent days following a string of warnings from economists that the country would enter a recession before the end of 2021.
Allies say his re-election prospects are pegged to the economy remaining healthy through 2020.
Millions of U.S. workers pay payroll taxes of 6.2% — a sum matched by their employers — to finance Medicare and Social Security.
President Obama temporarily reduced it to 4.2% in order to boost spending.
