Sean Spicer is doing a bang-up job as White House press secretary.
An administration official had to clarify this week that President Donald Trump’s newly proposed tax plan would not affect 401(k) contributions, contrary to what the press secretary seemed to suggest in Thursday’s briefing.
“Retirement saving is an exemption, not a deduction, and Sean was referring to deductions,” the spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “The President’s tax reform plan protects homeownership and charitable giving deductions as well as retirement saving.”
The spokesperson’s clarification came soon after Spicer created a short-lived news cycle Thursday in which he seemed to suggest the president’s tax plan would indeed impact 401(k) contributions.
At least, that’s what members of the press heard.
The new tax plan, which was unveiled Wednesday, removes a great number of deductions at both the state and local level. Spicer was asked specifically Thursday if the president’s proposal would affect 401(k) contributors. He responded by saying the tax plan protected charitable giving and mortgage deductions. Period.
“That’s it,” Spicer said.
Pressed for clarification, the press secretary seemingly backed up a bit before saying eventually, “let me get back to you on that.”
In the time it took for the White House to clarify Spicer’s initial remarks, reporters appeared to be deeply confused by the entire ordeal, and some went so far as to draw their own hard conclusions.
“Spicer says, after conflicting signals yesterday, that Trump tax plan would remove tax preferences for 401K retirement accounts,” CNBC’s John Harwood reported.
He noted that Spicer’s “that’s it” comment came shortly after Trump’s economic advisor Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin seemingly said different things about the plan.
Cohn said the new proposal would protect mortgage, charity, retirement and 401(k)s. Mnuchin, for his part, said the tax plan would protect only mortgage and charity. CNBC’s Eamon Javers asked Spicer Thursday specifically about whether 401(k)s would be protected, to which the press secretary replied by saying mortgage and charity were protected and “that’s it.”
Though some have suggested this confusing incident is the fault of a press eager to spot supposed scandals in the new administration, others have suggested the blame for this episode lies squarely on Spicer.
At least, that’s how some in media see it.
“I for one resent implication that in this case the press bears responsibility. The WH should be able to explain its skeletal plan clearly,” Boston Globe’s Victoria McGrance quipped Thursday.
Alan Cole, an economist at the Tax Foundation, summed things up neatly.
“Predicted theory of how this 401(k) cycle started: somebody confused ‘itemized deductions’ for ‘JCT tax expenditures,’ creating confusion,” he wrote. “I have deleted any tweet that wasn’t skeptical of the 401(k) story because it was just Spicer and the press confusing each other.”
He added, “To be clear, Spicer is a press secretary. If the press confuses him, that’s his problem. If he confuses the press, that’s also his problem. This man has generated news cycles about ‘Holocaust Centers,’ My Little Pony, and tax provisions that would die 0-100 in the Senate.”
Cole is not wrong. Spicer’s only job is to explain the president’s positions to the public. Anonymous White House officials shouldn’t have to crawl out of the woodwork to explain the press secretary.
The spokesman shouldn’t need a spokesman.
