Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday challenged White House budget director Mick Mulvaney about his controversial claim that President Donald Trump's proposed tax cuts will pay for themselves through economic growth.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Wallace pointed to a Tax Policy Center report that found that the richest 1 percent would receive an average of $129,000 in savings from Trump's tax reform proposal while the middle class would see a cut of just $660.
"That doesn't seem fair," Wallace noted.
Mulvaney called the estimate "absurd" and claimed that it understated the economic growth that would be spurred by tax cuts.
"I'm not talking about the economy," Wallace said. "I'm talking about the individual, the tax cut they get."
"You can't look at the tax cut on a family until you realize how much better off they're going to be," Mulvaney insisted.
"I thought the whole point was the wealthy weren't going to get a tax cut at all," Wallace shot back.
"It was," Mulvaney admitted. "The beauty is in the eye of beholder at this point. The real details are this, that we're looking at the middle class in terms making sure they can pay less and -- this doesn't get nearly enough attention -- it's easier for them to pay."
Wallace reminded the budget director that the theory that tax cuts paid for themselves had been repeatedly debunked.
"The Reagan tax cut back in 1981 added $208 billion to the deficit," the Fox News host said. "The Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 added $1.5 trillion to the debt over 10 years."
"You can argue whether or not tax cuts spur economic growth... there is no evidence that they pay for themselves," Wallace added.
