White House economist and former Treasury Secretary spar over Trump tax plan
Source: CNN
October 29, 2017: 2:01 PM ET
Trump's chief economics adviser defends tax math
A high-profile economist and President Trump's chief economic adviser presented starkly different views on the president's tax reform proposal.
Speaking on CNN's "GPS" with Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, Trump adviser Kevin Hassett defended his claims that lowering the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20% would lead to a $4,000 annual pay raise for the average American household.
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, also appearing on "GPS," called Hassett's claims "fake facts." He alleged Hassett cobbled together a "political brief" rather than an objective economic analysis.
Hassett -- who floated the $4,000 figure in two reports put out earlier this month -- fired back. He accused Summers of lobbing personal attacks and insisted other reputable economists have backed up his analysis.
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Summers, like many economists on both sides of the aisle, agree corporate tax reform will have "some positive impacts."
But Summers -- a Democrat who served as President Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary and as an economic adviser for President Barack Obama -- says Trump's plan is poorly designed and could harm the middle class.
"The claims that this administration makes -- that the tax cut will pay for itself, that the tax cut will raise incomes [...] that the tax cut isn't skewed toward helping rich people -- those are fake facts, and I think they need to be called out," Summers said.
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Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/29/news/economy/trump-tax-plan-kevin-hassett-larry-summers/index.html
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