Watch Replay: Trump Tax Plans Announced But Few Details On Offer

WASHINGTON, DC — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Director Gary Cohn delivered a press briefing Wednesday to discuss the Trump administration's plans to overhaul the tax code. Though billed as the unveiling of a "plan," the proposal contained few details, only broad principles that have been previously discussed.

Corporate taxes will be cut to 15 percent from their current level of 35 percent. Families will also receive tax cuts, Mnuchin and Cohn said, but any exact information about who will receive how much will still have to be worked out. Asked, for example, what the president's plans will mean for a family of four bringing in $60,000, the officials could not be specific. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

It's "gonna mean a tax cut,” Cohn said, but he declined to say any more about how much that tax cut would be.

The administration distributed the following single-paged plan to the reporters at the briefing. Zeke Miller, a pool reporter with Time, noted that it was the same "plan" released last fall, despite the fact that Mnuchin said they have been hard at work on the issue:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that the plan is "short on details and long on giveaways to big corporations and billionaires."

As the paper indicates, the administration plans to eliminate the estate tax, also known as the "death tax" by critics, which taxes wealth passed down through inheritance and mostly hits individuals with millions of dollars of assets.

Mnuchin also said that the new plan will eliminate all personal deductions except for the mortgage income tax deduction and the charitable donations deductions. Earlier Wednesday, Mnuchin said in an interview that the top rate on personal income taxes would come down from 39.6 percent to "mid-thirties."

One important promise of the plan, the officials said, is deficit reduction.

"This plan is going to lower the debt-to-GDP,” Mnuchin said. He said it would achieve this through closing loopholes and encouraging growth, even while rates come down on individuals and corporations. The plan, he said, will mean "Trillions of dollars in additional revenues,” though it's not clear how this will happen.

Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon on the Senate Finance Committee, released a statement criticizing the administration's plans.

"This is an unprincipled tax plan that will result in cuts for the one percent, conflicts for the President, crippling debt for America and crumbs for the working people," he said. "Instead of providing a real tax reform plan as promised, this administration is offering cakes to the fortunate few. Instead of focusing on lowering takes for teachers, nurses and cops, Trump appears to be piling on the conflicts-of-interest by ensuring he himself will receive an elite giveaway. Yet another reason why it’s critical the American people see his tax returns."

During the briefing reporters asked whether or not the public would see President Trump's own taxes, which he has promised to release but so far delayed for dubious reasons.

"The president has no intention," Mnuchin said. "I think the president has released plenty of information."

Many critics argue that Trump is likely to benefit from his own tax proposals and that the American people have right to at least know that fact. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly said he would raise taxes on the wealthy, and that he, personally, would end up paying more.

But can tax reform actually pass?

"As we know, the failure of the president and the Republican-led Congress to make good on his promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act was a dramatic swing and a miss," said Senior Economic Analyst Mark Hamrick of Bankrate.com. "In fact, many Americans are relieved that effort failed, while others feel differently. The challenge in pushing through a tax reform package of substance might well be even tougher. When discussing health care, we’re talking about a segment of the U.S. economy."

He continued."When discussing individual and corporate tax reform, we’re basically talking about the entire economy. The split within the GOP over taxes might well be just as difficult to overcome."

Hamrick also notes that a border adjustment tax, one of the more controversial and complex ideas proposed for tax reform, appears to be off the table.

Watch a replay of the briefing below.

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Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images News/Getty Images