Mick Mulvaney suggests White House would accept tax brackets in House or Senate plan
White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney suggested Monday that the administration would accept the number of individual income tax brackets in either the House or Senate Republican tax plan.
In an interview that only appeared on "CBS This Morning," Mulvaney said that both bills meet key White House principles: ordinary, hard-working Americans will pay less, he said, and it will be "simpler" to pay taxes; and the corporate tax rate will come down.
Mulvaney said that the House and Senate tax overhauls "preserve those two very important principles."
Asked if the White House favors the seven individual income tax brackets in the Senate bill or the four that are in the House measure, Mulvaney said, "We favor whatever can pass."
"The number of rates doesn't really change the simplicity of the code for ordinary folks," he said.
Mulvaney rejected nonpartisan analysis that projects the tax bill will add more than $1 trillion to the deficit; he insisted the bill would "grow the economy," which he said would generate more money for the government. He said one of the ways the Trump administration aims to reduce the deficit for the long-term is "by having this tax bill pass."
The White House is hoping Congress will pass the tax overhaul by Christmas, Mulvaney said. The House has already passed its version, and the Senate passed its proposal early Saturday morning. CBS News' Nancy Cordes reported that Republicans think they only need about a week to iron out the differences between their two plans. Once they come up with an agreement, both chambers would need to vote on the final bill.