MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (AP) — Republican Senate candidate Lena Epstein proposed a minimum 10 percent tax cut Wednesday for all Americans and a substantial reduction in the corporate tax rate, saying she favors "simple, big and bold" tax reform.
She also called for instituting a one-time 5 percent tax, instead of 35 percent, to entice U.S. companies to bring overseas money back into the country. Epstein, who announced her candidacy last week, previewed her "economic growth" plan as President Donald Trump and the GOP-led Congress consider overhauling the tax system.
Like Trump, Epstein proposed reducing the top corporate tax rate by 20 percentage points. His plan would whittle the number of tax brackets for individuals from seven to three, lower the top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent and double the standard amount taxpayers could deduct.
Epstein, the lone Republican so far to enter the 2018 race against Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, said there should be at least a 10 percent tax cut in all seven brackets.
"I believe that tax reform needs to be simple, it needs to be big and it needs to be bold," she said outside the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference. "I join President Trump and conservative outsiders in calling for a tax cut for everyone."
She was joined by a half-dozen businessmen and lawyers who support her campaign. A vocal Trump backer, she is a third-generation co-owner of Vesco Oil Corp, a large distributor of automotive and industrial lubricants based in the Detroit suburb of Southfield.
Epstein said companies such as Apple, Google and others holding capital in foreign countries could invest more than $100 billion in the U.S. if they were incentivized with a temporary tax cut.
A message seeking comment on Epstein's proposal was left with a Stabenow spokesman.