EXCLUSIVE: Steve Mnuchin says there will be 'no absolute tax cut for the upper class'
President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tax cuts will primarily serve the middle class and will not include an absolute tax cut for the wealthy, Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Wednesday, shortly after confirming he has been chosen to head the Treasury Department.
"Any reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class," Mnuchin said in an interview on "Squawk Box."
Some deductions, like those applied to mortgages and some charities, would likely still be accepted, Mnuchin said. "We'll cap mortgage interest but allow some deductibility," he said.
Mnuchin rebutted a claim that parts of the middle class, especially single-parent households, may ultimately pay more under Trump's new tax plan.
"When we work with Congress and go through this, it will be very clear. This is a middle-income tax cut. And the child care credit is a big aspect of this," he said.
The Tax Policy Center's analysis of Trump's tax plan found that the top 0.1 percent of the taxpayer population, the individuals who earn the highest incomes in the country, would receive an average tax cut of more than 14 percent of after-tax income.
According to the analysis, "households in the middle fifth of the income distribution would receive an average tax cut of ... 1.8 percent of after-tax income," and the poorest households would see their taxes decline by less that 1 percent of after-tax income.