High income earners likely will not get any kind of tax cut, President Donald Trump said Wednesday in a press briefing at the White House.
"The wealthy will probably be where they are," Trump said. "If we can do that, we'd like it. If they have to go higher, they'll go higher. We're looking at the middle class and jobs."
White House and Republican leaders plan to reveal tax cut details in two weeks, and Democrats have been steadfast in their opposition to letting the top 1 percent of earners keep any more of their money. But Trump, on Wednesday and in conversations with senators Tuesday at the White House, vowed any overhaul would not focus on tax cuts for high-income Americans.
"The president was adamant from the get-go: This is not a tax cut for the rich," Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "And I repeat that: This will not be a tax cut for me or any rich people.
"We have four principles for tax code," Trump said Wednesday. "Make the tax code simple and fair. Cut taxes substantially. The largest tax decrease in the history of our country for the middle class."
The president also promised a major tax cut for businesses, to "encourage companies to hire and grow in America."
"Right now, we're 35 percent – really much higher when you add state taxes in," Trump said. "China is at 15 percent. Then we wonder why are we not competing well against China. So they're at 15 percent. We're at 35-plus. That doesn't work. Bring back trillions of dollars – we have trillions of dollars overseas that we'll bring back and bring them back quickly."
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