Ivanka Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took their tax overhaul tour to New Hampshire on the deadline to file federal income taxes.
The pair was in Derry at a town-hall discussion moderated by former Gov. John H. Sununu on Tuesday.
Ivanka Trump said Tax Day is usually nothing to celebrate, but that most Americans will be much happier the next time the filing day rolls around.
Trump has been traveling the country to promote the sweeping rewrite of the U.S. tax code her father, President Donald Trump, signed last year. While the president and Republican allies have billed the tax law he signed as a victory for the middle class, Democrats depict the $1.5 trillion package as a payout to the GOP's largest donors.
The audience at the event, held at the Derry Opera House, was almost entirely Republican, including many small business owners, hand picked to give testimonials.
"This tax cut is a breath of fresh air for me because now I can hire more employees, I can bring in another line, I can expand my services," Magaret Culp said.
Questions at the event were prescreened.
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Sununu: The question was, “On tax day next year, are we really going to be able to file our taxes on a postcard?“
Mnuchin: "Nick, you will be able to."
"Anything that makes tax policy simpler for the little guy, doesn’t have a team of lawyers and accountants on hand, is a better system," said New Hampshire small business owner Bob Burns.
But Wyatt Ronan with NAH Democratic Party Communications disagrees.
"That’s not what most Americans think. Sixty-seven-percent of Granite staters don’t think that this tax bill is going to help them."
Democrats protested outside the event.
"This whole tax bill is a big lie," said Ken Hajjar. "It’s being paid for on a credit card."
But inside, Republicans were sold on the promoted reforms.
There are real offsets and that’s why across the country you see that the average amount of savings for a family of four is $2000," Ivanka Trump said. "So this is real."
Attendees were reminded to make sure that their taxes were filed by the end of Tuesday, but at least one prominent member of the Trump administration will not be doing that. The President has filed an extension.
Mnuchin declined to comment on the president filing for a tax return extension but said in general, individuals and businesses have that option and the IRS just wants people to pay and follow the law.
The IRS website to make payments was down Tuesday but Mnuchin said officials would make sure taxpayers get extensions and are able to file once the system comes back up.
Ivanka Trump's visit comes less than a month after her father visited Manchester to unveil his nationwide plan on how to battle opioids. During that visit, the president singled out the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, as a significant source of the drugs pouring into New Hampshire, citing a Dartmouth College study.
