Trump Is Said to Plan Missouri Trip to Launch Tax Overhaul Push

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump will kick off a campaign to overhaul U.S. tax policy next week with a visit to Missouri, according to an administration official familiar with the plans.

The trip Wednesday to the state’s southwestern city of Springfield was expected to be the first of several presidential stops around the country in the coming weeks, said the official, who asked not to be identified because the details of the trip are still under review. Missouri is an increasingly Republican state that embraced Trump last November and a place where Democrats face a crucial U.S. Senate challenge next year.

The president is not expected to set forth his own plan or many specifics, the official said. Instead, Trump sees his role as leading a public campaign to rally support as a group of House, Senate and administration officials seek to develop a unified approach.

Trump will advocate broad themes of middle-class tax cuts, simplifying the tax code and making businesses more competitive in a way that encourages job creation, the official said.

While details were still taking shape, the event comes just ahead of the Labor Day weekend. That allows Trump to drive the message to American workers returning from summer vacations and to congressional lawmakers returning to Washington for a final legislative push before they turn their attention to midterm elections.

Missouri, which backed Trump over Hillary Clinton in last year’s presidential race, also is home to Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat who faces a tough 2018 re-election fight and who has called for a bipartisan approach to tax reform. In choosing Missouri to launch his push, Trump also will be focusing attention on that Senate race, and putting pressure on Democrats as well as fellow Republicans to rally around efforts to pass tax legislation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Michael B. Marois, Brendan Scott