Trump says team working on tax cut for middle-income earners

[October 22, 2018]  ELKO, Nev. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said the administration was studying a tax cut for middle-income earners that could be rolled out some time around the beginning of November, just before pivotal congressional elections.

Trump mentioned the proposed tax cut in the same week the U.S. government ended the 2018 fiscal year with a $779 billion deficit, the Treasury Department said on Monday, as previous Republican-led tax cuts squeezed revenues. The deficit figure was the highest in six years.

"We're looking at putting in a very major tax cut for middle-income people," Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One following a rally in Elko, Nevada.

When asked about timing for the unveiling of the tax cuts, Trump said "sometime around the first of November, maybe a little before."

Americans will vote Nov. 6 in elections in which Trump's fellow Republicans will try to hold on to their majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives.

The median household income in the United States was about $55,000 in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In December, Trump signed into law the largest tax overhaul since the 1980s, which slashed the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent and temporarily reduced the tax burden for most individuals as well.

President Donald Trump hosts a campaign rally at Elko Regional Airport in Elko, Nevada, U.S., October 20, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The administration is beginning to pull together plans for the president's fiscal 2020 budget proposal, which Trump will present to Congress early next year.

On Wednesday Trump told his Cabinet to come up with proposals to cut spending by their agencies by 5 percent but he suggested the military would be largely spared.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason in Elko, Nevada; Editing by Bill Trott)

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.