page_title: Steven Mnuchin
section_title: Taxes
hierarchical_section_title: Steven Mnuchin / Secretary of the Treasury / Tenure / Taxes
caption_attribution_description: English: President Donald J. Trump holds a Cabinet meeting | August 16, 2018
context_page_description: Steven Terner Mnuchin is an American politician, investment banker and film producer who is serving as the 77th United States secretary of the treasury as part of the Cabinet of Donald Trump. Previously, Mnuchin had been a hedge fund manager and investor.
  After he graduated from Yale University in 1985, Mnuchin worked for investment bank Goldman Sachs where his father, Robert E. Mnuchin, was a general partner. He worked at Goldman Sachs for 17 years, eventually becoming its chief information officer. After he left Goldman Sachs in 2002, he worked for and founded several hedge funds. Mnuchin was a member of Sears Holdings's board of directors from 2005 until December 2016, and before that was on Kmart's board of directors. After Sears went bankrupt, the company that formerly owned it sued Mnuchin and ex-CEO Edward Lampert for "asset stripping" during their tenure. During the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Mnuchin bought failed residential lender IndyMac. He changed the name to OneWest Bank and rebuilt the bank, then sold it to CIT Group in 2015. During his time as OneWest CEO and chairman, the bank became embroiled in several lawsuits over questionable foreclosures.
context_section_description: Mnuchin is a member of the so-called "Big Six", a group of politicians convened to write a tax reform proposal that incorporated input from members of the House of Representatives, Senate, and White House. In addition to Mnuchin, the group consists of senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY); representatives Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Paul Ryan (R-WI); and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.
  Shortly after the November 2016 election, Mnuchin, as the planned nominee for secretary of the treasury, stated in an interview with CNBC that "any reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class", which Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) subsequently called "The Mnuchin Rule" during his Senate confirmation hearing.
  Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network, said a preliminary tax reform proposal by Trump in April 2017 "allocates much of the tax relief to the wealthy" and could increase the budget deficit. In a May 2017 event moderated by CNBC, Mnuchin stated the intent was to deliver a "middle-income tax cut", but that final results depended on the actions of Congress. Mnuchin appeared with White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short in a July 2017 event when they vowed to have the tax reform proposal before Congress after it resumed operations on September 5, and Mnuchin added that "lowering the top [earners'] rate [would be offset by] elimination of huge deductions. So, for most people in the top rate, they're not going to get a tax cut." Mnuchin walked back the "Mnuchin Rule" in a September 2017 interview with CNN prior to the release of the proposed tax reforms, saying the "no absolute tax cut for the upper class" phrase "was never a promise ... never a pledge ... it was what the president's objective was". Under the tax reform proposal, the top tax rate would decline from 39.6 to 35 percent, and the budget deficit would likely increase.
  During an appearance at the Milken Institute Global Conference on May 1, Mnuchin said the White House and House Republicans were united in views on tax reductions: "We're all on the same page. On 80% of the details, we're in agreement. Another 20%, we need to work through."
  During a conference in Ottawa on June 9, Mnuchin said government tax receipts were "coming in somewhat lower", but that this did not concern the administration.
  While appearing on ABC News on July 9, Mnuchin confirmed the administration was not considering a tax increase on the American upper class and the upcoming tax plan would finance itself.
  Mnuchin advocated for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, a bill expected to add $1.5 trillion to the deficit. Mnuchin claimed the bill would pay for itself by causing explosive economic growth; he promised the treasury was working on an analysis that showed that, and that the analysis would be made public before Congress voted on the legislation. However, on November 30, 2017, sources within the Treasury department said Mnuchin had ordered no analysis of the tax plan and that there was no Treasury analysis that showed that the tax cuts would pay for themselves. In December 2017, the treasury released a one-page report on the tax plan which acknowledged that the plan would not pay for itself through economic growth.
  In May 2018, Mnuchin instructed his staff to accept a non-low-income tract in Storey County, Nevada, as an Opportunity Zone shortly after attending a Milken Institute event in Beverly Hills with Michael Milken. Milken was already an investor in the Nevada tract. In August 2018, Mnuchin attended a Milkin Institute conference on "opportunity zones" in the Hamptons with Milken and later accepted a flight to Los Angeles with Milken on his private jet. Treasury later issued a regulatory guidance that allows prior investors to benefit from newly designated "opportunity zones".
caption: Cabinet meeting in August 2018
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