The Trump administration’s priorities in tax reform are to lower the corporate tax rate and to provide a “little bit of redistribution” for low-income earners, Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday.
“More important is the corporate, and then a little bit of redistribution so that the people in the lower brackets get the real benefit,” Ross said in an interview on CNBC, using a term that Republicans generally avoid.
Ross was asked whether the administration favors a tax reduction on the rich, a subject on which President Trump and other White House officials have provided ambiguous signals in recent days.
“Let’s see what really comes out” of Congress, Ross responded. Congressional Republican plans have including income tax reductions for the highest bracket and other provisions that would be likely to provide net tax cuts for high earners in most tax packages.
Ross then added that the “overwhelming priority” is lowering the corporate tax rate, which today is the highest among advanced economies, and bringing back earnings that multinationals currently are holding overseas to avoid taxation. U.S. businesses have an estimated $2.6 trillion in such unrepatriated profits.
In previous versions of Trump’s tax reform proposals, he has suggested larger standard deductions and credits for child care as ways to provide tax relief to middle-income earners.
The administration and congressional Republican leaders have said that they will reveal some areas of common agreement on tax legislation next week.
