Jake Tapper spars with Steven Mnuchin over whether the GOP plan is the 'biggest tax cut in history'

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared on CNN's State of the Union Sunday to talk tax reform with host Jake Tapper. Their conversation started with the question of whether any middle-class Americans would see their taxes increase under the Republican proposal. Mnuchin argued "by far the majority" will get "middle-income tax relief," maintaining that hikes are "not what [President Trump] wants" — and that even those who end up with somewhat higher taxes will benefit from the new simplicity of the tax system post-reform.

Mnuchin also defended Trump's claim that the GOP plan will be the "biggest tax cut in history." "We've tried to find a way that this is true, but it's not," said Tapper, listing multiple ways to calculate the bill's impact, all of which came up short of Trump's sweeping claim. (While the GOP has yet to settle on single tax reform proposal, other preliminary fact checks have come to the same conclusion.)

"There's lots of different ways of looking at it," Mnuchin answered. "This will be the largest change since President Reagan," he continued, "and the largest cuts, since Reagan, to the tax system." "It sounds like you're making factual arguments that are different from what President Trump says," Tapper replied. Watch their full conversation below. Bonnie Kristian

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up