WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent told Breitbart News that President Donald Trump intends to bring “certainty” to the US economy with tax credits and deregulation efforts.
Trump's first term tax cuts in 2017 – the Tax Cuts and Employment Act (TCJA) – is set to expire at the end of this year, but Bessent is confident that Congress will forever extend the current tax rate. Additionally, Bessent is confident that Congress will succeed in enacting hints, a tax-free Trump commitment to tax-free overtime wages, and a tax-free tax-free tax-free tax-free social security income. Bessent opened this portion of a nearly 40-minute long-term on-camera interview by ripping the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for Unsound analysis in terms of tax rates and growth.
“For your viewers, I want to clarify one thing too. I say that the tax cuts have been extended and I've been talking about CBO scoring for 35 years of my investment career. “Now, I'm on this side of the wall, so that's the craziest accounting you've ever seen. So, the tax cuts will expire, but the spending that passes will never expire? So, we see that we're extending the tax cuts when there's a reality that it's something we had. When it comes to spending, no one says, 'Oh, we have to re-up your spending.' That's how we fell into this mess. So this is why we want to make it – I call it the current tax rate, not the tax cut – we want to make the current tax rate permanent and ensure that Americans, small businesses, large businesses and American households have what their tax rates will turn out. It's very powerful and I think it has a great stimulating effect. ”
Not only will it extend the current tax rate forever, but also getting other parts of Trump's tax policy (no tips, overtime or taxes on social security wages) is the way Trump said he would further address the “affordability crisis” he faces with the country.
“It's part of the president's solution to the affordability crisis, as prices remain at high absolute levels now that inflation has fallen,” Bessent said when Breitbart News asked. “There are three ways to cure it. One is through actual wage growth. This is going to be done by introducing manufacturers and high-paying jobs. Two by lowering prices, and three can get tax cuts for working-class Americans. Thinking about it, if there's no tax on tips, tax on social security, overtime, and perhaps the deduction of car loans, it's all for Joe Biden's bottom 50% of wage workers killed in America. So President Trump believes he has beaten the affordable crisis and immigration. He is trying to solve both, but this is all about working on the affordable crisis and giving working Americans economic relief and financial security.”
While billionaires don't collect tips or overtime wages, Congressional Democrats continue to cry out about billionaires that Trump's policies seem to help. Asked about this criticism, Bescent laughed at it before pointing to GOP unification since the inauguration.
“They aren't playing games right now,” Bescent said of the Democrats. “They're on fire. I think one of the underreported stories since January 20th is Republican unification. President Trump is clearly continuing his role with policies and executive orders, and Democrats don't know how to stop him, but the large Republican party is very unified.”
Asked about whether to reform the way CBOs move forward, Bescent said it appears unlikely – so why he and Trump are looking for other ways to communicate with the American public, like this interview and his speech to the New York Economic Club.
“I don't know if CBOs will change the way they do it, but if they can give interviews like this, or give speeches like in New York's economic clubs and editorials, they can educate Americans about what's really going on with this CBO modeling,” Bescent said. “Again, I've been an investment expert for 35 years. I believed it. But now, if you look under the hood, you see that everything is on a 10-year forecast. Economic growth is projected to be at a steady state of 1.7 or 1.8% no matter what happens. So, if there is no tax bill and there is the biggest tax increase in history, the CBO says the economy is still increasing at 1.7 or 1.8%. If you make the tax rate permanent and receive a new tax cut, they're not going to get any additional growth. So, in the last estimate of the TCJA, I think they were about a billion and a half off. In my investment career, if I was running an investment program that kept losing money, I would stop doing it. But it's government, so who knows.”
Bessent also described some banking regulations that he hopes to be unified as he moves forward. He said that a comprehensive policy vision from the Trump Treasury Department would make loans available to more Americans and businesses beyond the elite. That said, he also believes this must be done safely and carefully to ensure the impact and impact of the economic system.
“In general, there are three regulatory authorities in the banking system. FRED, OCC, FDIC and to some degree CFPB have joined the law. I'm studying financial history, but when I think a regulated banking system can't make a loan, that's the atrophy of Main Street,” Bescent said. “The strength of the US is the depth and width of our financial system. We are blocking the depth, so only high-class borrowers are. [get loans]. There is much that can be done with regulations regarding bank supervision. Supervisors have a lot of discretion. Rules are being pushed to small and community banks in terms of asset diversification and geographic diversification. They have no geographical diversification. They may serve one small town with five branches. So there's a lot you can do with it. At major banks, they hang up and are capital-constrained. They are forced to hold reserves against their safest assets, government bonds. In fact, if we remove this, called SLR, we can cut our interest rates and banks will be willing to hold more bonds as they have to have this large capital fee. Again, I've studied this history, but I'm not saying I'm ripping 'er rips. What I'm saying is safe, sound, secure banking, ensuring that a regulated banking system supports American businesses and people. ”
Details of Bessent's latest Breitbart News interview are approaching.
