Trump’s Treasury pick promises biggest middle-class tax cut since Reagan

President-elect Donald Trump is going to ensure that the country gets “the most significant middle-income tax cut since Reagan,” Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, told reporters Wednesday. 

Mnuchin said at Trump Tower in New York that Trump’s tax plan would be a top priority for the incoming administration, and that it would include lowering both corporate taxes and personal income taxes for the middle class. It would also get companies to repatriate their overseas earnings to the United States and include benefits for child care, he said.

{mosads}”This is going to be a tremendous boon to the economy,” he said.

The last major tax reform overhaul passed under President Reagan in 1986.

The Treasury secretary pick said that the Trump administration’s “No. 1 priority” would be the economy and achieving economic growth of 3 to 4 percent. “We believe that’s very sustainable,” he said.

Another goal for the incoming administration is infrastructure spending.

“We need to make sure that our infrastructure is built for the 21st century,” Mnuchin said. He added that the administration would look at “a lot of different things” to pay for it, including public-private partnerships.

He also praised the deal reached by Trump and Carrier to keep about 1,000 jobs in Indiana, calling it “terrific.”

Mnuchin, who is a former Goldman Sachs partner and has also invested in the movie business, was asked how his background in the financial and entertainment industries would help him at Treasury. He replied that he’s been focused on being a regional banker over the last eight years.

“I know what it takes to make sure that we can make loans to small and mid-market companies, and that’s going to be our big focus, making sure we scale back regulation so that we make sure the banks are lending,” he said.