MICK MULVANEY: Let's talk about this, I've been very candid about this. We need to have new deficits because of that. We need to have the growth, Chris. If we simply look at this as being deficit-neutral, you’re never going to get the type of tax reform and tax reductions that you need to get to sustain three percent economic growth. We really do believe that the tax code is what's holding back the American economy. The reason we've been growing at 1.8 percent for the last eight to ten years, which is way below the historical average, is in large part because of our tax code. It is important to us to get the biggest, broadest tax reduction, tax cuts, tax reform that we can possibly get because it's the only way we get back to three percent growth, that's what's driving all of this. How do you get the American economy back on the historical growth rate of three percent and out of the doldrums of 1.8, 1.9 that we have had on the previous administration.
CHRIS WALLACE (HOST): I want to pick up on this because there -- some of your fellow colleagues in the Trump administration are not just saying that it's going to unleash massive growth, they are saying more than that. Here is Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin this week.
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STEVE MNUCHIN: That's $2 trillion in additional revenues, that's $10 trillion of economic activity and not only will this tax plan pay for itself, but it will pay down debt.
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WALLACE: But the fact is, there is no evidence that tax cuts pay for themselves. The Reagan tax cut back in 1981 added, added, $208 billion to the deficit over four years. The Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 added $1.5 trillion to the debt over ten years. Mr. Mulvaney, you can argue whether or not tax cuts spur economic growth, I think that's a perfectly legitimate argument. There is no evidence that they pay for themselves.
