Trump and Congress offer vague tax guidelines
WASHINGTON — After roughly three months of closed-door talks, the Trump administration and Republican congressional leaders appear to have made little concrete progress on a plan to overhaul the tax code and lower business and personal rates.
A joint statement released Thursday offered fewer details than the guidelines the White House had released in April, raising some doubts as to how the Trump administration can meet its deadline of rewriting the tax code this year in order to deliver an economic boost in 2018.
The statement suggested that the so-called “Big Six” negotiating the deal — a group that includes Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — has yet to finalize specifics about how low rates could go and the possible impact on the budget deficit.
House and Senate committees hope to draft legislation overhauling the tax code this fall. President Donald Trump and Congress already are attempting to undo the 2010 health insurance law signed by then-President Barack Obama, finalize a budget and increase the government’s borrowing authority.