White House Mnuchin says administration will consider new round of tax cuts in 2020

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday that the Trump administration would consider proposing a package of tax cuts in 2020, trumpeting the strength of the U.S. economy despite the ominous financial indicators of recent weeks.

“I think there’s no question the U.S. economy is in very good shape. As we look around the world, there’s no question that China is slowing, Europe is slowing — the U.S. is the bright spot of the world,” Mnuchin told reporters.


“And regards to a middle class tax cut, you know, we’ll be looking at tax cuts 2.0, something that will be something we’ll consider next year,” he continued. “But right now, the economy is in very, very good shape.”

President Donald Trump first teased the prospect of “a major tax cut for middle-income people” ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, following up on the $1.5 trillion Republican tax bill he signed into law in December 2017. While the proposal was a major talking point of the president's in the run-up to the midterm elections, Trump has seldom discussed it since.

Amid economic warning signs and fears of a forthcoming recession last month, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow asserted the administration was again reviewing a series of middle-class tax reductions.

“We are looking at it. Tax cuts 2.0. We are looking at all that,” Trump’s chief economic adviser told “Fox News Sunday.”

But Trump has vacillated on various measures meant to shore up the economy heading into an election year, at first confirming he had "been thinking about" slashing payroll taxes before reversing his position the next day, insisting: “I’m not looking at a tax cut now.”