White House May Seek Narrow Tax Cut

White House officials are looking at a strategy to pass a sharp, short-term tax cut if President Trump’s effort to pursue a broader overhaul of the tax code falters, according to multiple people briefed on the administration’s planning. The plan for a more narrow tax cut, which officials could begin pursuing as soon as September, is a recognition of the challenges the broader overhaul faces, with Republicans struggling to find consensus. The administration officials are willing to consider multiple scenarios if the tax code overhaul that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn are hashing out with congressional Republicans fails to come together, according to the people briefed, who requested anonymity in order to speak about internal deliberations. The top advocates for the targeted tax cut have been Larry Kudlow and Steve Moore, who were both top economic advisers during Trump’s campaign and remain in frequent contact with officials in the West Wing. Kudlow met with top NEC staffers two weeks ago and also had a private meeting with Trump, in which he urged them to consider pursuing tax cuts this year if they are unable to marshal agreement on a broader change to the tax code. “I’ve been down there several times,” said Kudlow.