President Donald Trump's "Big Six" tax writers see closing loopholes as a "key principle" of tax reform, the new chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers said Wednesday.
Trump is expected to reveal more details about the plan later in the day, including slashing tax rates on businesses and the wealthy.
The framework was crafted by six officials: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Trump economic advisor Gary Cohn, House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch.
"[If] I'm giving you a subsidy for buying this thing but then I have to charge you a higher tax rate because I gave you a subsidy, then all that complexity isn't really putting more money in your pocket," newly confirmed Trump aide Kevin Hassett said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box."
"There's been an enormous effort in the '86 Tax Act's style — and I think this isn't foreshadowing too much — there's been an enormous effort to simplify things a heck of a lot and make it so you can just lower rates by taking the complex red tape out of the tax code," he added.
The Senate voted earlier this month to approve Hassett as chairman of Trump's economic policy agency. Unlike under President Barack Obama, the position is not in the presidential Cabinet.
"The CEA chair has moved in and out of the Cabinet since its founding," Hassett said. "I think in its original design it wasn't meant to be in the Cabinet because the CEA chair is supposed to provide objective, not political, analysis."
Prior to his appointment, Hassett was an economist at the American Enterprise Institute and senior economist at the Federal Reserve. He also was a consultant to the Treasury Department and has advised presidential campaigns, including Republican Mitt Romney's unsuccessful 2012 run.