President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday directing the Treasury Department to review significant tax regulations that were implemented last year, with an eye toward fulfilling a campaign promise to reduce the tax burden on Americans, according to the White House.
The president also signed two memoranda ordering reviews of a 2010 Wall Street reform law that banks and insurance companies have said impede their ability to conduct business. The signing was held at the Treasury Department.
"In many cases, rules have done the opposite of what they were supposed to," Trump said Friday.
The memoranda order reviews of two sections of the Dodd-Frank Act, which was created to prevent a repeat of the 2007-09 financial crisis. The sections detail how big banks can wind down during a financial crisis and authorizes the top U.S. financial regulators to identify excessive risks in the U.S. financial system.
The documents instruct Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to review key provisions of the tax code and the Dodd-Frank Act, and then report to the White House on ways to improve them.
Mnuchin said Thursday the Treasury Department is working "day and night" on tax reform and soon will unveil a sweeping overhaul plan.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, said earlier this week the first tax overhaul in decades could be ready later this year.
Nevertheless, the tax review order Trump signed enables his administration to conduct a review of the tax code that is independent of Congress.
The review could give greater leeway to companies looking to shelter income overseas, or simply seeking to reduce the time and money spent on completing personal and business tax filings.
"People can't do their returns," Trump said. "They have no idea what they're doing."
