Congressional scorekeeper: Tax bill doesn’t adhere to ‘Mnuchin rule’

A top official with Congress’s tax scorekeeper said Monday that the House Republicans’ tax bill doesn’t adhere to the so-called Mnuchin rule that there be no net benefit for the wealthy.

“I would say not,” Joint Committee on Taxation chief of staff Thomas Barthold said during the House Ways and Means Committee’s markup of the bill. “As has been pointed out it provides for net tax reductions, particularly in the first year, up and down the income distribution.”

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview in November 2016 that “there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class.”

More recently, Mnuchin has backed off from that pledge, saying that it’s hard to not cut taxes for the wealthy if you’re cutting taxes across the board.

Barthold spoke about the Mnuchin rule in response to a question from Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.).

Higgins said that because the bill would cut taxes for high earners, “this tax plan is blatant fraud being perpetrated against Middle America.”

The tax bill faced day one of a House Ways and Means Committee markup on Monday. The markup is expected to continue for several days with Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) indicating he expects to be done with the bill by Thursday.