The White House supports tweaking final tax legislation to appease lawmakers who want to let constituents deduct state income taxes, according to National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.
His comments marked the first time the White House has publicly weighed in on a potential compromise for state and local tax deductions that emerged this week.
But Cohn declined to say whether the White House supports setting the corporate income tax rate above 20 percent to help pay for the revenue cost of that change. The White House has sent mixed signals on where the corporate tax rate should be set. After insisting it should be cut to 20 percent from 35 percent, President Donald Trump said last weekend that it might be 22 percent.
Republican tax writers’ plans for state and local tax deductions have been a source of controversy. Current House and Senate bills would preserve an individual deduction for state and local property taxes—capped at $10,000—but not for income taxes.
“No one really wants tax increases here,” Cohn said Friday during a Bloomberg Television interview. “The White House is fine with that if that’s where the conferees go and the conference committee goes.”
This week, a potential compromise emerged: letting taxpayers deduct state income taxes in addition to property levies—up to the $10,000 cap. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he’s open to the change, as have House Republican leaders including Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady.
“We are very concerned” about the 70 House lawmakers from high-tax states who want to ease the burden on their constituents if state and local tax deductions are repealed, Cohn said.
When asked whether the 20 percent corporate rate is still a red line for the president, Cohn didn’t respond in the affirmative. Instead, he said: “The president talked about 20 percent; both bills have 20 percent in them, that’s where we are.”
By Monday, he added: “We’ll have a pretty final tax bill here, and we’ll know where we’re going to be.”
