Days after announcing an executive order instituting a federal payroll-tax holiday, President Donald Trump has another tax cut in his sights.
As reported by The Hill, he said on Monday that he is “seriously” considering a capital-gains tax cut as part of his effort to stimulate an economic recovery in the wake of widespread coronavirus-related shutdowns.
“A lot more jobs”
The comment came during a White House press briefing in which he predicted that the move would “create a lot more jobs.”
Trump previously heralded unemployment numbers over the past two months that have shown significant recovery of the millions of jobs lost as a result of the pandemic earlier this year.
“I think it will be very exciting,” he said of the latest proposal. “A capital gains tax is going be a lot of people put to work, and it will be a cut in the capital gains tax and also a cut in the middle-income tax.”
Late last week, Trump signed an executive order establishing the payroll tax cut for people making less than $100,000 annually, indicating that he expected to make the holiday permanent if elected to serve a second term.
While the White House now asserts that the capital-gains tax cut would aid millions of American workers, Trump has previously dismissed the idea, as reported by Bloomberg.
“A big plus for manufacturing and construction”
“It’s not something I love,” he said last year following a discussion with advisers regarding the possibility of adjusting capital gains to match the rate of inflation.
Even as the stock market shows continued recovery, it remains to be seen how a cut in taxes on capital gains would be received by the public and how effective such an approach might be in further stimulating the economy. Nevertheless, Trump stuck to economic issues in making the case that his administration is best suited for the job.
“We’re doing rebuilding like nobody’s ever seen,” he said this week. “It’s a big plus for manufacturing and construction. So constructions getting close to record territory. Manufacturing is doing very well.”
His recent executive orders came after a deadline passed by which he wanted Congress to reach a deal on the contents of the next coronavirus relief bill. Instead, the ongoing deadlock led the president to take unilateral action.
Though his orders attracted criticism from those who believed they bypassed the constitutional authority of the legislative branch to pass spending bills, many Americans see the move as further evidence that Trump is dedicated to pursuing any path possible to follow through on his campaign promises.
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