Heidi M. Przybyla

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – President Trump on Friday began his push to sell a blueprint for tax cuts by saying it will reinvigorate U.S. industry and the middle class – and, notably, omitted his earlier claim that the plan won't help him personally.

"We will cut taxes for everyday, hardworking Americans and we're going to cut them substantially," Trump said in a speech to the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington.

He highlighted the portion of his plan that applies to U.S. companies, including proposals to lower the corporate tax rate to 20% and cap the rate for many mid-sized and smaller U.S. companies at 25%, also known as the “pass through” rate. “It will be rocket fuel for our economy,” Trump said.

This week, Trump repeatedly claimed his plan would not benefit the wealthiest Americans, including him.

After numerous news organizations calculated that he and his heirs actually stand to reap millions of dollars from the draft plan, which was unveiled Wednesday, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn rebuffed questions about whether Trump's plan would benefit the wealthy. Cohn insisted on Thursday that Americans only care about their own tax bills, not the president's.

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In his speech on Friday, Trump did not repeat the claim that the wealthy wouldn't reap rewards from the plan.

Trump spoke at the National Association of Manufacturers, which represents many large corporations, though the administration is also selling the tax provision as a boon to small businesses and the middle class.

Some 95% of all U.S. companies pay tax as “pass through” entities, meaning they are subject to the same personal income tax rate as their owners. The administration is arguing that by giving these companies a lower rate, it will put more money in their hands to reinvest and create jobs.

Among the challenges Trump faces is convincing Americans that he has included adequate guard rails to prevent abuse, with wealthy individuals likely to reclassify their tax status as LLC’s or other categories in order to take advantage of the lower rate. On Thursday, Cohn said the administration is “acutely” aware of the problem, yet he did not explain how it would be avoided. The Trump administration is also facing questions about how it will fund the plan. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the plan calls for roughly $2.2 trillion of net tax cuts.

While the administration says it will fund the tax cuts by closing loopholes in the current code, it hasn't identified any other than the state and local tax write off that is paid by many middle-class families in coastal and blue states.

Alfredo Ortiz, president of the Job Creators Network, represents one of the grassroots groups advocating for the package. He is also urging the administration to make compromises to ensure that the tax package actually targets the middle class and small and mid-sized companies.

“I guarantee there are mechanisms we can put in place" to avoid abuses, Ortiz said. "There are very smart people in the Capitol and in the IRS building to have a mechanism in place."

"Are they willing to throw out the 98%" of small businesses the measure would help “so that the top 2% don’t get a rate cut?” Ortiz said.

Many large corporations are already flush with cash and the ratio of what executives earn compared to their workers is at historic highs. In 1978, chief executives earned 30 times the take of the average employee; now, according to the Economic Policy Institute, they get 276 times as much.

So if the Trump administration focuses, for instance, on helping small business while ending preferential treatment for wealthy groups that enjoy special treatment under the current tax code, it might help him sell the plan politically. For instance, currently hedge fund managers pay a lower rate, 23.8%, than their secretaries because they classify their income as investment."I don’t think you’re going to hear a lot of people grumbling over that," said Ortiz, referring to the so-called carried interest tax loophole.

Currently the Trump plan also includes repeal of the estate tax and the individual Alternative Minimum Tax, provisions that overwhelmingly favor the wealthy and make the plan hard to brand as a "middle class" tax cut.

In his Friday speech, the president didn't show any indication he's willing to compromise on these provisions that overwhelmingly favor the wealthiest Americans.

He called the estate tax, a levy on property passed from deceased individuals to their heirs, "crushing, horrible and unfair." It applies only to estates worth $5.5 million or more.

“For those of you with small and family owned business, your family will not have to sell the business in a fire sale just to pay a very very high tax," said Trump.

Trump says the tax cuts will be paid for through economic growth. Yet his 2018 budget proposal cuts many programs for low and moderate income people, including job training grants, heating assistance for low-income families and nutrition programs for poor children and seniors. Democrats also say it could force cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security if it further balloons the national debt.

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