Donald Trump's campaign is getting the help from conservative economists Larry Kudlow and Stephen Moore to revamp a
controversial tax plan that would've likely added $10 trillion to the deficit,
Politico reports.
"What we've been trying to do is help advise him a little bit to try to reduce the cost of the plan" and still encourage economic growth, Moore, of the Heritage Foundation, tells Politico.
Trump's initial plan was criticized for expanding the deficit, according to the
Tax Foundation, by an estimated $10 trillion in the next decade.
Economist and CNBC host Kudlow tells Politico the changes he and Moore are recommending are just "tweaking" Trump's original plan, but the Tax Foundation now estimates those revisions would expand the deficit by $3.8 trillion.
"The full effect of all the things we talked about would have a very important reduction in the deficit," Kudlow tells Politico. "The economic growth would be increased, as would jobs and wages."
Trump's initial plan included eliminating federal income taxes for individuals making less than $25,000 and for married couples earning below $50,000, slashing the highest income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 25 percent and cutting the business tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent.
Some of those numbers could now shift, Kudlow tells Politico, adding, however: "Mr. Trump has not signed off on any of this."
According to Politico, revenue-generating recommendations to Trump include raising the top tax bracket higher from the 25 percent that he'd originally proposed to 28 percent.
Kudlow also said the threshold for paying no income taxes could "be lowered a bit" — Trump's initial plan would take 33 million low-income Americans off the rolls entirely. Kudlow didn't specify the new threshold, Politico reports.
Kudlow also tells Politico he and Moore are suggesting Trump keep the capital gains tax rate at 15 percent across all income levels; Trump's original plan had that rate at 20 percent for those earning more than $150,000, Politico reports.
He also said they would recommend letting corporations use "immediate expensing of equipment" for tax purposes to spur investment and economic growth – something that wasn't in the original Trump plan at all.
The revisions appear to be an effort to put Trump more in line with the broader Republican consensus on tax policy, Politico reports.
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