Remarks by President Trump on Tax Reform
THE PRESIDENT: I told you that we would be saying, merry Christmas again, right? (Applause.) And it's great to be back in
And I want to thank
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: Secretary Mnuchin, who's doing such a fantastic job -- (applause) -- thank you -- and
I especially want to thank
And, you know, I have two others. I have a lot of faith in Faith,
Just three months ago, we came to this state to launch our plan to bring back
With your help, we can usher in a thrilling new era of opportunity and growth for this nation that we love so much. Tax cuts have already passed the
A successful vote in the
You know, for years, they have not been able to get tax cuts -- many, many years, since Reagan. And the problem was they talked about tax reform, not tax cuts. I said, don't call it "reform," call it "tax cuts and reform." So every once in a while we'll add the name "reform." But it's tax cuts.
We cannot sit -- (applause.) Right? The Governor agrees.
We cannot sit idly by and watch ourselves losing in competition to other countries as they continue to take away our jobs because their tax codes are more competitive and less burdensome than ours. That's why we must cut our taxes, reduce economic burdens, and restore America's competitive edge. We're going to do that, too. And it's already happening. Look what's happening with our markets. People get it. (Applause.)
If we do this, then America will win again like never, ever before. (Applause.) A vote to cut taxes is a vote to put America first again. We want to do that. We want to put America first again. (Applause.) It's time to take care of our workers, to protect our communities, and to rebuild our great country. (Applause.)
You know, we've spent almost
And all of that, but we've spent almost
And with that being said, we're going to protect our country, whether it's
But we've got to start focusing on our country. That's why I'm saying America first. Make America great again -- you've never heard that expression. (Applause.) All those hats. All those -- they've never heard that expression before.
Oh, that was a good expression and it's a true expression and it's already happening and long ahead of schedule. And in fact, today, some numbers came out that people haven't seen in many, many years.
This beautiful city of
It was along these very streets that, in 1804, the great American explorers, Lewis and Clark, gathered their final supplies before setting out on their very historic expedition of discovery. I have to say, I didn't really know that until two days ago. (Laughter.)
See? See, now the world is watching. Look at all the fake news back there. They're all --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: They're all watching.
Today, more than two centuries later, a new generation of American pioneers begins its own adventure, gathering inside the startups and the storefronts of main streets across the country, blazing new trails into totally uncharted territory of business and technology, and once again leading our nation into a future of limitless potential.
That's what we have in this country. We have the greatest people. It's the greatest country. I love this country so much. (Applause.)
Our country was not treated properly for a long time. We're treating it properly. We're treating it with love and with this. You got to treat it with this.
And today, just as it's always been,
But over the years, crippling taxes, massive regulation, and totally disastrous trade deals -- oh, the trade deals. Oh, I get a headache thinking about who made these deals. (Laughter.) One after another.
Now we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore American prosperity and reclaim America's great destiny. We've already made tremendous progress -- far greater than I would have thought. I will tell you this in a non-braggadocious way -- (laughter) -- there has never been a 10-month President that has accomplished what we have accomplished. That I can tell you. That I can tell you. (Applause.)
Today, again, the stock market has reached another record, all-time high. (Applause.) The unemployment rate nationwide is the lowest it's been in 17 years -- (applause) -- and 13 states this year have seen unemployment drop to the lowest levels in the history of their state. And I hate to tell you, but
We've created nearly 2 million jobs -- 2 million jobs, think of that. We used to lose millions. Now we've created 2 million jobs since I won the election. And, I want to say, since you won the election. I didn't win the election; you won the election. (Applause.)
And we will create countless more if we can sustain the 3 percent growth rate we have achieved for the past two quarters. But we're going to do much better than that. Remember I used to say, we can hit 4 and we can hit 3? And they were all saying, forget it, forget it. It was 1.2. It was doing terribly. We were flat. We were even. In all fairness, the stock market was going this way.
And now, we're hitting numbers that nobody thought possible, certainly not in this time. And the numbers going up are going to be much better than anybody anticipates. In fact, they're going to say that Trump is the opposite of an exaggerator -- the exact opposite. (Laughter and applause.) They're going to start saying, Governor, that he ought to be a little bit more optimistic because his predictions were low, can you believe it?
You know, a year and a half ago, they were saying, oh, he can't do that. Now they're saying, hm, that was quick. (Laughter.)
But by the way, the
AUDIENCE: No!
THE PRESIDENT: And now it comes in at 3.3 percent, which is the largest increase in many years. (Applause.)
And if we didn't have the hurricanes, we would have been at 4 percent. The hurricanes were devastating. And I said, they're worth a point. They said they were worth like .006, but I said they were worth a point. We would have been at 4 percent, maybe even over 4 percent, but we had hurricanes.
We took care of them. In
But I want to tell you there are a lot of brave people in every state. We have great, great people, and it's our number one resource, believe me. Really great. (Applause.)
But in order to achieve this bright and glowing future, the
And the big day will be either tomorrow or the next day. I would say do it now. We're ready. (Laughter.) I said to the
But we had an incredible session yesterday. And I think we're there. That's why I said, let's do -- can we do the vote today? What do I know? I'm a business guy. Can we do the vote now? Well, they said, how about Friday? I said, I don't want to wait until Friday. (Laughter.) Right, Billy? I said, Billy, can we do the vote? Get me the vote.
Well, Billy has already passed it, so -- and then what happens, if it passes it goes into this beautiful committee -- this beautiful -- I call it a pot. And we mix it up, and we stir it up, and we bring all the best things out, and you're going to have something, I predict, that will be really, really special.
So, right now -- (applause) -- really is.
So right now, America's tax code is a total dysfunctional mess. The current system has cost our nation millions of American jobs, trillions and trillions of dollars, and billions of hours wasted on paperwork and compliance. It is riddled with loopholes that let some special interests -- including myself, in all fairness. This is going to cost me a fortune, this thing -- believe me.
Believe me, this is not good for me. (Laughter.) Me, it's not so -- I have some very wealthy friends -- not so happy with me, but that's okay. You know, I keep hearing Schumer, "This is for the wealthy." Well, if it is, my friends don't know about it. (Laughter.) I have to explain why.
Now it is great for companies, because companies are going to bring back jobs. And we're lowering the rates very substantially. But right now, we're bringing the rates down from 35 percent -- which is totally non-competitive. The highest industrialized nation in the world, by far, and we're bringing it all the way down to 20 percent. (Applause.)
But that's good for everybody in the room, whether you have company or whether you want a job, because we're going to bring back jobs. (Applause.)
And what we've had is a massive giveaway to foreign countries, which encourage businesses to relocate offshore. And you've seen what's happened.
Before this -- this is, really, I'm most proud, because, as bad as our tax code is, we have
That's why they're doing -- our current code is a giant -- and really it is -- it's a self-inflicted economic wound. It's been that way for so many years and nobody wanted to do anything about it.
But all that will change and it will change immediately if
Under the plan moving forward in the
Now, we're doing that not just to help people. We're doing that because it helps our country. You're going to take that
The beating heart of our plan is a tax cut for working families. That's what it is. We're going to make sure -- (applause) -- that you keep more of your hard-earned money. We're going to make sure, also, that you have a job that you want. You're going to have choice. In education we now have choice. Good word. Here you're going to have a choice. You're not just going to have one -- you're going to have a choice of many jobs. People are moving back into our country.
Under our plan, the first
Our plan will significantly increase the child tax credit and make it available to more middle-class families because the single most important investment our nation can make is in our children. Do we agree? You agree? You better agree. (Applause.)
Families will also benefit from a new credit for other dependents like a child in college, or an elderly loved one. We have our mothers, our fathers. You have your grandparents. You have people that are elderly that have done a fantastic job. They've grown old. You want to help them. Now we are going to help you help them. (Applause.)
We're also going to eliminate tax breaks and complex loopholes taken advantage of by the wealthy. Who are they? I don't know. (Laughter.) I think my accountants are going crazy right now. It's all right. Hey, look, I'm President. (Laughter.) I don't care. I don't care anymore. I don't care. (Laughter and applause.)
Some of my wealthy friends care. Me? I don't care. This is a higher calling. Do we agree? (Applause.) As Hillary said, what difference does it make? It made a difference. It made a big difference. It made a big, big difference. (Applause.)
We want a tax code that is simple and fair, and that's for all Americans. The plan that senators will be voting on this week -- hopefully as soon as possible -- closes the loopholes that corporations use to shift their profits to tax havens, and it eliminates deductions for CEO salaries over
I'm driving up their stock. They're making a fortune. Then they go to their board, and they tell everybody what a great job they're doing. But what am I going to do? (Laughter.) And many of them, honestly, I don't like. (Laughter.) Oh, some of these bankers I don't like them, and they're making a fortune, and it's one of those things.
Steve knows a couple of them that I'm talking about, doesn't he? (Laughter.) They say what a great job they do. Right now anybody could do their job because we're making it easy for them because we're giving them a great and strong economy. And because we've cut regulations more than any President in the history of this country by far, and that's for full terms. That's not for 10 months. (Applause.)
And it allows builders to build, and it allows farmers to farm. You know what I've done for farmers. (Applause.) Where if you had a little puddle in the middle of your field, you go to jail if you touch it, right? You know what I'm talking about. Not anymore. Not anymore. Not anymore. (Applause.)
And it allows bankers to lend. It allows bankers to lend again. So many people came up to me, and they said, we had a 20-year relationship with a bank. We never had a default. We never had a bad loan. Now we go back to the bank, and they say, we can't do business with you anymore.
Because they don't qualify, even though they're better than the people that do qualify. It's incredible. But we're back to the strong days of our banks. And not the days of trouble -- pre-that -- we're back to the -- where bankers can make loans and community bankers can make great loans to good people.
You saw what happened recently where the certain agency or bureau that was causing so much trouble to lenders, where they could not lend. They just couldn't lend. It was devastating. They were going out of business. Well, we're taking care of that. We've already taken care of a big part of it, and yesterday you saw we won the lawsuit. So that's going to be taken care of automatically. (Applause.) Got to get back to business.
Our focus is on helping the folks who work in the mailrooms and machine shops of America -- the plumbers, the carpenters, the cops, the teachers, the truck drivers, the pipe fitters -- the people that like me best. (Laughter.) Actually, the rich people actually don't like me, which is sort of interesting.
And that's fine. You know what? I like that trade. (Laughter.) But really, the people that like me best are those people -- the workers. They're the people I understand the best. Those are the people I grew up with. Those are the people I worked on construction sites with. (Applause.)
All of the people who give their best each and every day to take care of their family and the country that they love -- these are incredible people. They came out to vote for me. They came out to vote for us. People that worked hard, two jobs, three jobs, that hadn't voted in many years because they never had anybody they wanted to vote for.
And they came out -- I'll never forget, in
He said, and if the other parts of the country are like what's happening in
And he said, I've never seen anything like it, and I've been a politician for a lot of years. And if it's anything like
And I promised Josh that, when he gets it going -- and he's got it in very good shape, from what I hear, he's a popular -- everybody said, Josh, got to be Josh. Everyone who saw me -- I said, who's going to run against her? Josh, Josh. I said, Josh, when you're ready, you have my word, I'm going to come here and campaign with you. We got to get you in. Okay? (Applause.) Got to get you in.
It's not enough for the middle class to keep getting by; we want them to start getting way ahead. (Applause.) We're going to have them start getting way ahead.
Under our plan, middle-class families will not only see their tax bill go down, they will see their incomes go up by an average of around
Although, we're going to have very strong borders. Please remember that, okay? Please remember. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Build the wall.
THE PRESIDENT: We're going to have the wall. Don't worry about it, we're going to have the wall. (Applause.) We don't forget that wall. A lot of people say, now that he got elected, is he going to build the wall? The answer is, absolutely -- more so, I think more so. (Applause.)
It's not easy dealing with the
But you know what? They may obstruct, but we have gotten through all of the obstruction so far. We'll keep it going, believe me. (Applause.)
Today, America has one of the least competitive tax rates on planet Earth -- 60 percent. Think of that: 60 percent higher than the average in the developed world. So our taxes are 60 percent higher.
On my recent trip to
And that trip was a tremendous success. You know, we brought back
But at the same time, we're going to fix trade because trade is unfair. We're getting killed on trade. So we're going to fix our trade. Unless anybody would like to continue with this horrible situation that we have.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: Our plan gets America from the back of the pack and it'll bring us right to number one, where we were for years but where we haven't been for decades. We're going to be right back at number one. (Applause.)
And we're going to work on trade, but we're also going to work on military. When we defend nations that are very wealthy, and we do it for almost nothing, I say, why are we defending them? We love them. I won't mention names, but there are a lot of them. We love them. They're wealthy.
One of them has a cash flow that they say is unsustainable, it's so large. Think of that. How would you like to have an unsustainable cash flow? They don't know what to do with their money. And we defend them. It's going to change, folks. We're going to defend them, but they're going to treat us fairly. And they're going to pay for their defense. Does that make sense? (Applause.)
And a lot of this is from many, many years ago, when we defended a defeated country and then they became strong and they became rich and we just kept the same defense. What happened? Why didn't anybody go in and negotiate?
And when I was in
We're going to lower our tax rate to the very competitive number of 20 percent, as I said. And we're going to create jobs and factories will be pouring into this country, and they already are starting. A lot of people think it's going to happen. I don't want to say anything. I'm not going to talk about it. I thought we had healthcare, and we will have healthcare. It's going to happen. As soon as we get the taxes, we work on the healthcare, we're going to happen. Because we thought we had the votes and something happened a little strange -- (laughter) -- that's okay.
When you lose by one vote, then it's called -- you go back. You know, some people said, oh, you failed with healthcare. I said, what do you mean we failed? We didn't fail. And by the way, what happened -- what happened is Obama took a long time -- years -- to get Obamacare, right? Again, ten months? We've had two runs at it. We're coming closer, closer. I think now we have a plan that's going to be great. But we're not talking about it until after taxes. And then we take care of healthcare.
Then we will have done tax cuts, the biggest in history; healthcare, phenomenal healthcare. I know you don't want this -- welfare reform. Does anybody want welfare reform? (Applause.) And infrastructure. But welfare reform -- I see it and I've talked to people. I know people, they work three jobs and they live next to somebody who doesn't work at all. And the person who's not working at all and has no intention of working at all is making more money and doing better than the person that's working his and her ass off. And it's not going to happen. Not going to happen. (Applause.)
So we're going to go into welfare reform, unless Billy doesn't want it. Billy, am I okay in saying that I speak for you? He said, yes.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Billy. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: You got a lot of friends out there, Bill.
Well, we'll also cut taxes for the millions of small businesses that file as individuals, and that's going to come out of the hopper. (Applause.) It's getting there and it's going to be better and better. We're reducing the tax burden on businesses of all sizes and of every, single kind.
As a candidate, I pledged to fight for American jobs. I think it's possibly the number one reason I got elected. And I think we've done a lot better, at this point, than anybody ever even thought possible. Think of that, two million jobs since the election -- two million more jobs in this country since the election. Nobody expected that. Nobody expected that. Excuse me, I didn't even expect that. (Laughter.)
But you cut those regulations and you give people spirit and incentive. And when you have the highest ratings, in terms of confidence, that the country has had in many, many years -- maybe ever -- things happen.
The tax cut will mean more companies moving to America, staying in America, and hiring American workers right here. So that's so important, right? (Applause.)
Small business groups across our nation, retailers, restaurants, manufacturers, grocers, contractors support this plan. We have tremendous support for this plan. Tremendous. Because these massive tax cuts will be rocket fuel -- (laughter) -- Little Rocket Man -- (laughter) -- rocket fuel for the American economy. (Applause.) He is a sick puppy.
She and her mother, Teri -- hi, Teri -- they own a jewelry store on
I assume you like that, right? Good.
He also did a terrific job renovating the old post office on
They said yes, Randy. If he did a bad job, I'm going to stop right now and just say, good luck, Randy. (Laughter.) They said you did a good job. I know you did.
Randy knows firsthand how the high tax burden is holding America's small businesses back, and our tax cut plan will unleash them to thrive like never before. He understands our plan, which will provide relief from the horrible, crushing, unfair estate tax, also known to many as the death tax. (Applause.)
We want to make it easier for loving families to pass on their life's work to their children. Be nice. Be very nice, right? (Applause.)
That's a tough one. The
Our economy will receive another enormous boost as trillions of dollars in wealth that's parked overseas will be able to come back to our country.
Now, this one that's interesting because for years
But to show you the lack of leadership that this country had in the past, the
But it used to be
That's sort of an easy one. Last year, American multinational companies left more than 70 percent of their foreign profits overseas because the current tax system penalizes them for bringing that money back home. They actually get penalized. Our plan switches to a territorial tax system that encourages companies to return their profits to America -- right here to
If we want America to thrive in the 21st century, then we must stop running from the competition. And instead, we must start totally winning and winning and winning again. Remember when I used to say: We're going to win so much. We're going to win -- that the people of
And then the governor is going to come to that beautiful historic
I used to say that. I had fun with that. But we are winning. We're winning again. We're winning a lot bigger than anyone ever thought possible for such a short period of time.
For too long, our tax code has incentivized companies to leave our country in search of lower tax rates. It happens. Many, many companies --- they're going to
My administration rejects the offshoring model. In other words, let's build a factory in another country. Isn't that wonderful? That really helps us a lot. Fire everybody, and let's build a product, and let's send it in, without tax, back into
That model doesn't work for me. It never worked, and it shouldn't have worked for any of our other past Presidents, believe me. (Applause.)
Our new model is the American model. Call it the Trump model, where we build it here. As much as possible, we build it here. Simply put, our tax plan is anti-offshoring and 100 percent worker, 100 percent worker, 100 percent pro-America. (Applause.)
Under the American model, we're reducing burdens on our businesses as long as they do business in our country. Okay? They do business here.
Now, we love
In the meantime, what do we get out of it? We get no tax and we get unemployment all over. That's stopping. So now the plants are starting to move back. And now there's a price to pay when they do that little number on us. (Applause.) That's how we will all succeed and we grow together as one team, one people, as one American family. (Applause.)
This week's vote can be the beginning of the next great chapter for the American worker.
To summarize: Our plan cuts taxes for the working and middle-income families; it nearly doubles the amount of income taxed at the rate of zero; it lowers tax rate; it expands the child tax credit; it provides relief from the estate tax, also known as the death tax; it cuts small business taxes; it reduces the corporate rate from 35 percent all the way down to 20 percent; and it provides a one-time low tax rate to return corporate money parked overseas -- trillions and trillions of dollars.
This is the right plan. This is the right time. We have a moment in time. The
This is our chance to free our economy from our workers -- from the terrible tax burdens. We have workers that are so burdened with taxes. We're freeing our workers from those terrible burdens.
Many
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: -- is doing you a tremendous disservice. She wants your taxes to go up. She's weak on crime, she's weak on borders, she's weak on illegal immigrations, and she's weak on the military. Other than that, I think she's doing a fantastic job. (Laughter.)
But now comes the moment of truth. In the coming days, the American people will learn which politicians are part of the swamp and which politicians want to drain the swamp. (Applause.)
If you make your voices heard and call up your congressmen -- and they've been terrific -- and call up your senators -- and they have been totally terrific. Most of them have been incredible. They really are. They're friends of mine. They've been incredible.
But, it doesn't take much. That's why we need more. We need to have a larger number. But most of them have been incredible. But call your senators. Call you congressmen, because we have no choice. We have to act. We have to act as a country. This isn't good for the
So, this week, hopefully, the
And remember, I was the one -- when I was here last time, I said, we're going to have Christmas again. I was the one that said, you go to the department stores and you see "
With Trump as your President, we are going to be celebrating Merry Christmas again, and it's going to be done with a big, beautiful tax cut. (Applause.)
Thank you everybody. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Thank you very much.
END
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