World

Trump pivots to tax reform after Obamacare shipwreck

Published March 28, 2017 Updated March 28, 2017 10:56am

"Health care is a very, very complicated issue. In a way (taxes are) a lot simpler," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday.

And Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday that lawmakers should be shown details soon.

Several days before the collapse of Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration's signature health

care law, President Donald Trump even promised to advance "the biggest tax cut since Ronald Reagan," saying it would be "fun."

But reshaping the entire tax code, something not done since 1986, is no mean feat. Several presidents, Republican and Democrat, have failed, foundering on procedural hurdles and the delicate compromises needed to succeed.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday the timing of changes will depend on reaching a grand bargain.

"I think part of this is going to be dependent on the degree to which we can come to consensus on a lot of big issues," he told reporters.

 

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Press), 2017