Trump promises ‘phenomenal’ announcement on taxes in coming weeks

President Trump on Thursday said that the White House would make a tax-related announcement in the next several weeks, calling it “phenomenal.” 

“We’re going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax,” he said in a meeting with airline executives.

Trump didn’t provide any additional details, but White House press secretary Sean Spicer said later in the day that the administration is looking at “rolling out the outline of a comprehensive tax plan, that we’ll be working with Congress on, that will address both the business side of the tax ledger as well as the individual rates.”

Spicer noted that a tax-reform bill could be passed using budget reconciliation once a budget for fiscal 2018 is approved. Reconciliation bills only need 50 votes to pass in the Senate.

“The president recognizes that middle-class Americans need tax relief,” Spicer said, adding that the outline would be designed to spur economic growth and incentivize companies to create jobs in the U.S.

Trump told the airline executives that he wants to help them by rolling back regulations and “lowering the overall tax burden on American businesses big league.”

The tax efforts are “coming along very well,” Trump said, adding that he believed that they were “way ahead of schedule.”

Tax reform has been a top priority for both Trump and congressional Republicans. During his campaign, Trump proposed lowering the corporate tax rate to 15 percent; House Republicans have proposed lowering the rate to 20 percent.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said that news that Trump plans to make an announcement on taxes is “critical.”

Brady told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Thursday that he’d let Trump make the announcement, but that the president and House Republicans are “going the same direction in a good way.” 

Updated at 5:28 p.m.