Miran Downplays Fears of Investment Fallout from ‘Revenge Tax’

The White House’s chief economist dismissed concerns that a controversial provision in President Donald Trump’s tax-and-spending bill would drive away foreign bond investors, calling such fears a “misinterpretation.”

The so-called Section 899 “doesn’t apply to most portfolio flows,” said Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, on Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast. “It’s mostly targeted at corporate profits,” and doesn’t “touch things like the portfolio flows,” he said.

Stephen Miran

Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Dubbed a “revenge tax” by the financial community, Section 899 of the budget bill calls to increase levies for individuals and companies whose home ...