“We’ll do the vote after the election," President Donald Trump said, alluding to the fact that Congress is not scheduled to be in session again before the midterms. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo Tax Trump wants new middle-class tax cut 'of about 10 percent'

President Donald Trump said today that he will propose a new tax cut “of about 10 percent” for middle-class Americans.

“We’re giving a middle-income tax reduction of about 10 percent – we’re doing it now for middle-income people,” he told reporters. “This is not for business.”


“That’s on top of the tax decrease that we’ve already given,” he said.

Trump was vague on timing, saying “we’re putting in a resolution sometime in the next week or week and a half, two weeks,” but did not offer additional details. He said he would ask lawmakers to vote on it after the midterm elections.

“I’m going through Congress,” he said, adding that he would not try to cut taxes through an executive order, as he's been pushed to do on capital gains taxes. “We’ll do the vote after the election.”

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His comments appear designed to rally GOP voters ahead of next month’s election and come amid mounting frustration among some Republicans that their tax cuts last year are not resonating with the public like they had hoped. Polls show Democrats have won the battle over public perceptions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with many believing the law was overly generous to the rich and to big corporations.

Trump’s comments also come days after Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a potential 2020 Democratic presidential contender, called for a big new $6,000 tax break for people earning less than $100,000.

Trump’s proposal is unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon, with many Republicans sure to blanch at the cost of a big new tax cut and Democrats seemingly poised to win control of the House.

Trump initially raised the prospect of another round of tax cuts, seemingly out of the blue, after a campaign event Saturday in Nevada.

He said the administration was working with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) on a plan that could be done by November — though Congress has left town until after the midterm elections.

Few seemed to know what Trump was talking about, and neither the administration nor congressional Republicans responded to requests for clarification.

House Republicans have tried to remind voters of their support for lower taxes, approving legislation shortly before they went home that would make permanent a bunch of individual tax cuts now slated to expire at the end of 2025.

That effort, though, appears to have had little political effect, with lawmakers mostly emphasizing other issues like immigration in the waning days of the campaign.