President Trump’s call for a payroll tax holiday will not be in the next coronavirus stimulus package, but the tax cut could turn up in a future bill, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
“Not in this bill,” Mnuchin told reporters outside the White House on Thursday. “But we’re going to come back again. There may be a CARES 5.0.”
Trump has repeatedly called for the cut and said he could veto a package that does not include it. “I would consider not signing it if we don’t have a payroll-tax cut,” the president told Chris Wallace on Fox News last week.
“The president’s preference is to make sure we send out direct payments quickly,” Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview Thursday.
On enhanced unemployment benefits, Mnuchin said, “We’re looking at something that looks like a 70% wage replacement.”
Advocates of a payroll tax holiday have argued that the cut would increase hiring and grow the economy, as well as help low- and middle-income taxpayers for whom salaries and wages are the largest sources of income.
Reached for comment Thursday, Stephen Moore, an outside economic adviser to the president and a member of his economic recovery task force who has advocated for the cut, expressed surprise.
“Are you serious?” said Moore, who is also a contributor to the Washington Examiner, adding that without the cut, “There’s no point in having a Phase Four.”
“The only thing that’s stimulative in the whole bill is the federal tax cut,” Moore said. “If they don’t include the payroll tax cut, there’s no reason to have another bill. Every Republican should vote against it.”
