SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - President Donald Trump unveiled a four-pronged plan to overhaul the nation's tax system Wednesday he said will help middle-class Americans and "bring back Main Street."
Mid-Missouri lawmakers and business leaders said the plan will cut regulatory burdens and give money back to working class homes in the Rust Belt. Supporters of the president and protesters of his policies from Jefferson City also drove to Springfield to make their voices heard.
Trump outlined his tax-reform plans at the Loren Cook Company in Springfield, which designs and manufactures vents, fans and laboratory exhaust systems. The stop is the first at what is expected to be several events across the country during the coming months as the president lobbies Congress to pass significant tax-reform legislation.
The first component aims to make the tax code easier to understand by updating tax codes last updated decades ago, the president said.
Next, Trump wants to help businesses by implementing a flat 15 percent tax rate on all businesses, cutting the current top tax corporate tax rate of 35 percent. Trump said this will help create manufacturing jobs and help the U.S. compete with countries like China and India.
"We cannot restore our wealth if we continue to put our businesses at such a disadvantage," Trump said. "We must reduce the tax rate so they keep jobs in America, create jobs in America and compete for workers in America."
Third, Trump said, he wants to cut the personal income tax rate for middle-class families, which he said could spur spending by families, and create resurgence in manufacturing.
The final principle of Trump's tax plan aims to stop a practice known as inversion, where U.S. companies merge with smaller companies abroad and headquarter the business abroad. Trump said companies are storing trillions of dollars overseas. He called on Congress to stop this by creating a tax on this money abroad if the money is repatriated.
"It's time to invest in our country to rebuild our communities and to hire our great American workers," Trump said.
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican, said the plan was simply an outline for Congress showing the need to pass legislation that allows families to take home more pay and creates more opportunities for jobs.
"You achieve that by lower tax rates and better jobs," Blunt said. "And the way to raise revenue is to have better jobs and more taxpayers."
In April, the White House released a one-page plan that outlined Trump's tax-reform goals. That plan, which formed the backbone of the proposals he called on Monday, proposed to cut the number of tax brackets from seven to three. Under that plan, the top tax bracket for individuals would be reduced from 39.6 percent to 35 percent, with lower tax brackets of 25 percent and 10 percent.
U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, said heralded the proposed tax cut on the personal income tax rate. Trump did not state what personal income tax rates could be cut to. Luetkemeyer also heralded Trump's proposed business tax cut.
"Whenever we lower the cost of producing goods and services and make ourselves more competitive, we sell stuff worldwide," Luetkemeyer said. "So this helps everybody in Central Missouri and across our country."
Luetkemeyer also thought this could help lure manufacturers to Mid-Missouri.
"A lot of the companies we're going to get in Central Missouri will be expansions of existing companies," Luetkemeyer said. "So it's beneficial to us to have these taxes cut so people and companies have these dollars to invest in us."
Dan Mehan, president and chief executive officer of the Jefferson City-based Missouri Chamber of Commerce, was struck by the detail in Trump's speech. Trump's goal of stopping inversions through tax-reform legislation stood out to Mehan.
"If we can repatriate that money and use those funds for infrastructure, that's a win-win," Mehan said. "Finally, somebody has put some teeth to this."
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told CNN in April he initially thought tax reform could be finished by August, but hoped it could be passed by the end of the year. Blunt thought that was still achievable.
"I think it's very likely," Blunt said. "After what happened with health care, the Senate is very motivated. The president is very motivated."
Luetkemeyer was cautiously optimistic.
"I think it's realistic," Luetkemeyer said. "Congress has been a little dicey so far, but this is something that has a lot of bipartisan support. We will try and get this thing done."
Before the president arrived in Springfield on Wednesday afternoon, demonstrators for and against the president and his policies meandered around Springfield. Among them were a handful of Jefferson City residents.
Carmen Claypool sported a red "Make America Great Again" hat and held the biggest American flag she could find as she wandered the streets of Springfield around 11 a.m. Wednesday, trying to find the location for a demonstration with other supporters of the president.
"I'd have walked if I had to," Claypool said of her trip from Jefferson City.
Claypool, who works for the state of Missouri, is a Canada native and supports the president's tough approach to immigration.
The U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday the economy grew by 3 percent during Trump's first full quarter in office. Claypool said the strong economy is one of the big reasons she supports the president.
"Look how the economy has grown since he's become president," Claypool said. "He's a businessman. He didn't make all that money sitting around being stupid. He's smart, and he plays a deeper game than people realize. If Hillary (Clinton) was president, the economy would be in the tank."
About a mile south of Claypool, dozens of anti-Trump protesters met around 11 a.m. Laura Umpehenour, an organizer of the protest, said that organizers expected about 600 people to protest against the president's policies. In the morning, dozens of people drew signs, bought buttons and prepared for a brief march through Springfield at a local union.
Demonstrators from the "People's Protest" lined parts of Glenstone Avenue, one of the main roads through Springfield, and about 2-3 miles from the site of Trump's speech.
After the protest, six protesters from Jefferson City sat eating custard at an Andy's Frozen Custard restaurant.The group came down to protest's Trump's stance on climate change and health care. When asked about the president's plan to create jobs by cutting taxes for businesses, Kathy Kirchhoff was blunt.
"Trickle-down (economics) does not work," Kirchhoff said.