Trump says corporate tax cut is ‘biggest factor’ in GOP tax plan

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

President Donald Trump delivers remarks to reporters at the start of a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 20, 2017.

The president called it “above all else a jobs bill,” contending that changes to the business tax structure would encourage more companies to relocate operations to the U.S. and hire more workers. While hiring is a major piece of the GOP argument for the tax cuts, some company executives have already signaled businesses are more likely to use their tax savings for share repurchases rather than for hiring or worker wage increases.

House and Senate Republicans have promoted the legislation passed by both chambers of Congress this week as primarily a tool to increase wages and take-home pay for workers.

The bill would permanently chop taxes on businesses while temporarily reducing the burden on most, but not all, individual taxpayers. While congressional and independent analyses project most income groups would get a tax cut next year, their benefits under the plan would dissipate as most individual tax cuts expire after 2025.