Paul Ryan says tax plan unlikely to swell deficit: Reuters
EY Global CEO Mark Weinberger on the Republican push for tax reform.
WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Republican tax cut plan that President Donald Trump wants passed by the end of the year is unlikely to trigger a big deficit expansion because it will spur more investment and job growth, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.
"We believe that we'll get faster economic growth," Ryan said. "We don't anticipate a big deficit effect from this tax reform because we will broaden the base and lower the rates, plug loopholes and get faster economic growth. ... Those things combined, we believe, will give us faster growth and a more resilient tax code."
Democrats have painted the tax plan as a gift to the rich and corporate America that would balloon the federal deficit and add to the $20 trillion U.S. national debt.
While the broad parameters of the tax proposal have been made public, detailed legislation has not yet been unveiled.
One of the key elements of the plan is to slash the corporate income tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent.
Ryan said the plan would help U.S. growth. "The reason we're trying to do it with this timeline is we want to get a 3 percent economy. We're sort of limping along, growing between 1 and 2 percent, and that is so far underneath our potential as a country," he said.
Ryan previously said he wants the House to pass the tax bill by the Nov. 23 U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
Securing passage by Congress of his tax plan is important to Trump, who has yet to score a major legislative win since taking office in January amid a steady stream of distractions and Republican infighting.
Ryan predicted that Democratic lawmakers would eventually back the tax plan.
"At the end of the day, I do believe some Democrats will end up voting for this thing," Ryan said. "It's hard for me to see why -- no matter what party you're from -- you'd want to vote against this."
(Reporting by David Morgan, Amanda Becker and Doina Chiacu; Writing by Susan Heavey and Alistair Bell; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Will Dunham)