White House mulling tax cuts but not to counter short-term weakness - adviser

The Trump administration is studying tax cuts to buttress long-term U.S. economic growth that could be rolled out during the 2020 election campaign but is not looking at action to counter any perceived economic weakness now, the White House economic adviser said.

"We're not looking for any near-term tax cuts. We're not looking for short-run stimulus. We don't anticipate anything but a solid, strong economy," Larry Kudlow told reporters.

"We have for a while been looking at ... additional tax relief incentives for the middle class, for blue-collar workers, small businesses and so forth - additional relief on top of the bill that passed in late 2017," he added. "We're not unfolding that bill anytime soon. My guess is it's likely to appear during the campaign."

Kudlow told reporters the administration had long been considering additional tax moves as a follow-on to the tax cuts approved in 2017.

He said it was not likely to do anything short-term or temporary like a payroll tax cut because officials believe the economy is strong and recession talk is overblown. Instead, he said, the administration was considering adjusting marginal tax rates for the middle class, shrinking tax brackets and changing capital gains taxes.