United States President Donald Trump's administration unveiled its plans on Wednesday, April 26, to dramatically cut taxes for US corporations and individuals, bringing the corporate tax down to 15 percent from 35 percent.
As he heads closer to 100 days of his presidency, Trump is now seeking to follow through on a flagship pledge he made during his presidential campaigns last year, to reform the tax code to boost the American economy, businesses and families.
"Under the Trump plan, we will have a massive tax cut for businesses and massive tax reform and simplification," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn announced from the White House.
The officials also said that Trump's tax plan would also repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax for individuals and institute a one-time tax on corporate earnings held overseas.
Cohen deemed Trump's tax reforms as "the most significant tax reform legislation since 1986, and one of the biggest tax cuts in American history."
Under Trump's plans, tax brackets for individuals would be compressed from seven to three – 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent. The proposed rates are considerably lower than the current top tax rate of 39.6 percent.
The US president hailed his tax reform plans and said that it is a "great plan." "It's going to put people back to work," Trump said.
Eliminating "death tax"
Trump's tax proposal also included elimination of the estate tax, which is also referred as the "death tax". The state tax is levied on property which includes cash and real estate transferred from deceased people to their heirs.
The White House also on Wednesday said the goal of the proposed tax reform is to propel the US economy to three percent annual growth.
White House to continue Obamacare payments
The White House also reportedly told lawmakers that it will continue funding Affordable Care Act (ACA) cost-sharing subsidies, according to Politico. It was, however, not immediately clear how long the White House intends to fund the money.
The Trump Administration has said that its tax reforms will bring in tax revenues and spur growth.
"The difference between 1.6 percent, 1.8 percent GDP and three percent is staggering," Mnuchin said. "It's trillions of dollars of revenues. It's tons of jobs," AFP reported.
