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Treasury secretary slaps down reports that Steve Bannon wants Trump to raise taxes on the rich
Treasury Secretary Steve Bannon rejected reports Sunday during an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” claiming White House chief strategist Steve Bannon wants to raise taxes on the rich. He said he has “never heard” Bannon suggest a tax hike before. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Treasury secretary slaps down reports that Steve Bannon wants Trump to raise taxes on the rich

Tax hikes are not on the horizon, according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

Mnuchin, sitting down for an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” said he has “never heard” White House chief strategist Steve Bannon call for increased taxes on the rich.

“It’s another example of a false leak that’s being reported,” Mnuchin said, following a week of reports from Axios and Fox News suggesting Bannon wanted to raise taxes.

Axios reported July 2 that Bannon wanted the top income tax bracket to “have a four in front of it.” An unnamed “administration source” confirmed the report to Fox News the next day.

Currently, those making at least $418,000 a year are being taxed at 39.6 percent. Under a plan from the White House to reduce taxes, which Mnuchin said will be presented by September, the highest tax rate would be reduced to 35 percent.

“I think it’s very clear kind of we have a proposal out there that the administration has put out with a top rate of 35 percent where we reduce and eliminate almost every single deduction,” he said. “So that means that people who are in the high tax state also have no tax reduction, and it’ll be offset by reduced deductions.”

In late April, Mnuchin and White House economic adviser Gary Cohn presented a one-page proposal of changes to the tax plan. Cohn described the plan as the “biggest tax cut” in U.S. history.

The plan would cut the number of income tax brackets from seven to three, with the top rate being 35 percent, the median rate 25 percent, and the lowest rate 10 percent. In addition, the business tax rate would be cut from 35 percent to 15 percent.

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