Trump repeats his dubious pledge to introduce a 10 percent middle-class tax cut before the midterms

FAN Editor

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Monday repeated his unsubstantiated claim that Republicans plan to unveil a middle-class tax cut before the midterm elections a little over two weeks away.

“We’re putting in a resolution some time in the next week and a half to two weeks [and] we’re giving a middle-income tax reduction of about 10 percent,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “This is not for business, this is for middle income, and that’s on top of the tax decrease that we’ve already given them.”

Congress is in recess until after the election, but Trump dismissed the idea that he would try to use an executive order. “No, I’m going through Congress. We won’t have time to do the vote. We’ll do the vote after the election,” he said.

But congressional leaders and White House officials who have spoken to several news outlets in recent days have all said they know nothing about any plans for a tax cut before the midterm election. This is not least because neither chamber of Congress plans to return to Washington until after the election.

As of Monday, it was also unclear what type of resolution Trump was talking about. A spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan referred questions from CNBC back to the White House. But a White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to these or any other questions.

Trump’s comments failed to register in financial markets Monday, which may reflect suspicions on Wall Street that the president’s talk of a tax cut is merely a campaign gimmick. This would fit with a broader pattern of escalating rhetoric from the president in recent days, as the midterm congressional campaigns enter the home stretch.

Republicans are fighting to maintain control of the House of Representatives, and scores of individual races are extremely close with only two weeks to go before Election Day. Political analysts expect the GOP to lose seats in the House but keep its thin majority in the Senate.

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