President Donald Trump doesn’t support a proposal to pay for expanding the child tax credit by setting the corporate income tax rate at 22 percent, according to Raj Shah, a White House spokesman.
The White House supports the child tax credit, but “we also think that it’s important to make businesses more competitive,” Shah told reporters during an Air Force One flight to Missouri, where Trump is scheduled to give a speech on taxes.
GOP Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah on Wednesday proposed amending the Senate tax bill to enhance the child tax credit. As written, the bill calls for boosting the child tax credit to $2,000 for each child under 18. Currently, the credit provides $1,000 for each child under 17. The bill would also make the benefit available to families with higher incomes.
The Rubio-Lee amendment would make it refundable against a family’s payroll tax liability -- which would help lower income families that otherwise wouldn’t make enough money to claim the credit. In a speech earlier today, Rubio said cutbacks in Social Security and Medicare may be needed to prevent increases in the federal deficit.
Trump has said previously that he won’t accept a corporate tax rate higher than 20 percent.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.