WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday proposed slashing tax rates for businesses and on overseas corporate profits returned to the country in a plan greeted as an opening gambit by his fellow Republicans in Congress.

The Trump administration touted the president’s blueprint - which also calls for raising standard deductions for individuals, repealing inheritance taxes on estates and simplifying tax returns - as a landmark proposal just days before Trump marks his 100th day in office on Saturday.

But while Republicans have long eyed tax cuts and the party controls the House of Representatives and the Senate, Trump’s proposal may be unpalatable to party fiscal hawks. It lacks plans for raising new revenue and could potentially add billions of dollars to the federal deficit.

The plan was unveiled at the White House by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn.

Mnuchin called the proposals “core principles” that would be worked on with Congress to produce a bill that can be passed. In reply to questions, he said the plan would pay for itself through economic growth, and by reducing tax deductions and closing loopholes.

“Our objective is to make US businesses the most competitive in the world,” he said. “The president is determined to unleash economic growth for businesses.” Much of the plan had emerged before the formal unveiling. Earlier on Wednesday, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, a longtime champion of a major tax restructuring, expressed optimism about it, even though it did not include a “border adjustment” tax on imports that he has pushed.

That controversial idea was part of earlier initiatives floated by House Republicans as a way to offset revenue losses resulting from steep tax cuts.

“We’ve seen a sneak preview. We like it a lot,” Ryan told a gathering of lobbyists and lawyers. “It puts us on the same page. We’re in agreement on 80 percent and on the (remaining) 20 percent we’re in the same ballpark.”

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2017