Gary Cohn on Thursday deflected questions about whether the Republican tax plan would cut President Trump’s taxes, and said U.S. families care much more about whether they will see a tax reduction.
“American taxpayers care about what they take home. They care about what they have to spend,” said Cohn, the director of Trump’s National Economic Council.
Appearing before the press at the White House, Cohn repeatedly dodged questions about the claim that the tax plan would not benefit Trump. Trump himself has said that he wouldn’t get a tax cut.
“What the American people care about is their financial position,” Cohn said at one point. Rather than directly answer the question, he emphasized that “our tax plan is aimed to return more income back to hard-working Americans.”
Yet the tax plan contains several provisions that would appear to provide significant tax benefits to Trump and his family.
One of those is a new special, low tax rate for businesses that send earnings straight through to their owners’ tax returns. The Trump Organization comprises many such “pass-through” businesses.
Another is the elimination of the estate tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax. Trump’s leaked tax return for 2005 showed that he owed $31 million because of the Alternative Minimum Tax.
Cohn declined to explain the effects of any of those provisions on Trump’s fortunes. Instead, he noted more generally that the plan would prevent high salary earners from abusing the pass-through rate, and noted that the repeal of the estate tax is backed by small business and farming groups. The Alternative Minimum Tax, he noted, would be much less relevant if Republicans succeed in eliminating the state and local deduction.
