Fresh off his meeting with Republican leaders in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump met with 80 CEOs, including JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Jamie Dimon and Tim Cook of Apple Inc. Thursday and told them how he’s going to turn things around:
If he is elected president again in November, the CEOs are going to see tax cuts and a curtailment of business regulations, according to people who attended the meeting.
CNBC spoke with people who attended the Business Roundtable’s quarterly meeting and others familiar with what took place there, all of whom were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about a private gathering.
Trump said that if he is returned to the White House he will cut taxes, including income taxes, and bring back the same economic policies he enacted during his first term, according to people who were in the meeting.
“We’re going to give you more of the same for the next four years,” a person who was in the room said, describing Trump’s message for the company leaders.
Trump has seen his election chances improve in recent months:
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That’s certainly going to be music for the ears to at least some of the attendees. According to estimates, His vision is in stark contrast to President Joe Biden’s, whose tax proposals would amount to around five trillion more dollars taken from people and companies. Some estimates are even higher:
President Joe Biden’s proposed U.S. government budget would raise tax receipts by $4.951 trillion over 10 years, including more than $2.7 trillion in tax hikes on businesses and nearly $2 trillion on wealthy individuals and estates, the U.S. Treasury said on Monday.
Trump spoke for about an hour and laid out a different vision:
Trump said he wants to bring the federal corporate tax rate down from 21% to 20% if he were to become president, according to a person familiar with his remarks.
Trump also mentioned to the CEOs a recent proposal he rolled out in Nevada, to eliminate taxes on worker tips, said people who were in the room. Trump then told the CEOs a story about how excited tipped workers were about his proposal, prompting laughter from the corporate leaders, according to multiple people.
Although a one percent business tax doesn’t sound like much, Bloomberg writes that it’s actually significant:
The current corporate tax rate is 21%, but even a small reduction represents a tax cut worth billions of dollars each year for profitable US companies. Trump called the 20% figure a nice, round figure, according to two sources briefed on his comments.
Trump couldn’t resist getting in a dig at the current commander-in-chief, saying, “We need a president who is at the top of his game, and let’s face it, this president is not at the top of his game.”
The Biden campaign clapped back on social media with this nasty little response:
Biden campaign on Trump speaking at business roundtable in DC today:
“Donald Trump couldn’t run a lemonade stand, let alone our country. He is a fraud, a crook, and a failed businessman and president who left America in economic ruin.”
— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) June 13, 2024
Did Biden perhaps miss the fact that Trump built a multi-billion dollar business? Or that inflation was at 1.4 percent when he left office?
