The White House is signaling an interest in moving the tax-reform debate in a different direction.

A House tax reform blueprint, released last year as part of Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanAt indoor rally, Pence says election runs through Wisconsin Juan Williams: Breaking down the debates Peterson faces fight of his career in deep-red Minnesota district MORE’s (R-Wis.) “Better Way” agenda, had long been viewed as the starting point for tax reform. During the campaign, President Trump's tax plan was revised to more closely resemble it.

But the Trump administration is now drafting a new proposal, with officials considering a range of policy options beyond what Republicans in Congress have put forward.

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Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told CNBC in a video posted Wednesday that “it's too early to say” if the White House’s plan would resemble the House’s blueprint. But he suggested the administration wouldn’t hesitate to go its own way.

“The House can go and do what they want to do,” Mulvaney said. “We are going to formulate our own policies.”

The White House made clear after last month’s collapse of an ObamaCare repeal bill that it intends to take more of a leading role on tax reform.

In the last several weeks, Trump and members of his economic team have been meeting with lawmakers, businesses and industry groups to get their input.

A White House spokesperson said Trump is getting feedback from stakeholders “to help develop a plan that will provide significant middle class tax relief and make American businesses more competitive.”

Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in a statement that “our intention has always been and continues to be to coalesce around a unified GOP plan and those conversations continue.”

The most controversial aspect of the House’s plan is its reliance on border adjustability to tax imports and exempt exports.

While that tax is the cornerstone of Ryan’s proposal, the White House has yet to fully embrace it.

The Washington Post last week reported that the White House was looking at other ideas, including a value-added tax and a carbon tax, neither of which is in the House plan. The Associated Press, meanwhile, reported that Trump was abandoning his campaign tax plan.

The White House has pushed back on those reports, saying that a value-added tax and a carbon tax are not under consideration and that the campaign tax plan remains the administration’s foundation on tax reform.

Even if administration officials are simply batting around ideas, it seems clear that Trump’s team is open to a different approach.

“It definitely looks like they’re going to do their own scouting and come up with their own idea,” said Alan Cole, an economist at the Tax Foundation.

Trump has also floated linking tax reform with infrastructure, which is not part of the House Republicans’ plan. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellSenate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Hillicon Valley: DOJ indicts Chinese, Malaysian hackers accused of targeting over 100 organizations | GOP senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal | QAnon awareness jumps in new poll The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden asks if public can trust vaccine from Trump ahead of Election Day | Oklahoma health officials raised red flags before Trump rally MORE (R-Ky.) said on NewsMax TV on Thursday that he thinks the two issues will be addressed separately.

Administration officials have suggested that they will move deliberately on tax reform and care more about getting tax reform right than meeting a deadline. But with the healthcare efforts floundering, White House officials are under pressure to get Trump’s legislative agenda back on track.

“That I think is their motivation,” said Marc Gerson, vice chairman of the tax department at law firm Miller & Chevalier and a former tax counsel to the House Ways and Means Committee.

One consideration for the White House as it weighs its next move on tax reform is whether the House GOP blueprint can pass Congress.

The plan is already facing pushback from some Republican lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, over the border adjustment provision. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch Orrin Grant HatchBottom line Bottom line Senate GOP divided over whether they'd fill Supreme Court vacancy MORE (R-Utah) said late last month that the Senate is unlikely to simply pass a House bill “without our members having significant input on the substance of the bill.”

“If tax reform happens, it will be because the president has picked out a plan and herded the members of Congress into voting for it,” Cole said.

If the administration opts against the border-adjustment proposal, it would have to find another way to raise revenue to pay for lowering tax rates.

The version of Trump’s tax plan that he released in September doesn’t include border adjustability but has a number of other similarities to the House GOP tax plan, including individual tax brackets of 33 percent, 25 percent and 12 percent. Both plans would also lower the corporate tax rate.

Given the similarities, the White House may still ultimately put out a proposal that is in line with the House blueprint, even if changes some of the details.

“I think there’s a lot of the Ryan proposal that works for them,” said Dean Zerbe, national managing director of alliantgroup and a former senior counsel to the Senate Finance Committee. He added that the basic elements of the Ryan plan would be in any Republican tax proposal.

Leading tax writers in the House have expressed support for the White House’s efforts on tax reform.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady Kevin Patrick BradyBusinesses, states pass on Trump payroll tax deferral Trump order on drug prices faces long road to finish line On The Money: US deficit hits trillion amid pandemic | McConnell: Chance for relief deal 'doesn't look that good' | House employees won't have payroll taxes deferred MORE (R-Texas) said on CNBC earlier this month that it’s “encouraging and helpful” that administration officials are engaged in the tax-reform process and considering a range of options.

He said that Trump’s economic team is “trying to find the right, most pro-growth tax code.”

“The sooner the White House and Congress can get on the same plan, the better it is,” Brady added.