(CNN) President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled a Republican framework for tax reform that calls for sweeping tax cuts and a simplification of the tax code, framing the effort in a speech as a historic opportunity. 
 
 "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and I guess it's probably something I could say that I'm very good at," Trump said during remarks in Indiana. "I've been waiting for this for a long time. We're going to cut taxes for the middle class, make the tax code simpler and more fair for everyday Americans. And we are going to bring back the jobs and wealth that have left our country and most people thought left our country for good." 
 
 Trump in recent weeks has sought to crank up public pressure on the need for sweeping tax reform. In Indianapolis, he offered specific numbers to back up his calls for the biggest changes to the tax code in decades. 
 
 He called for reducing the personal income tax brackets from seven to three (12%, 25% and 35%), doubling the standard deduction for married and single filers (to $24,000 and $12,000 respectively), slashing the corporate tax rate to 20% and eliminating the estate tax -- among other proposals. 
 
 Trump sought to give the Republican-crafted framework a populist touch, framing the tax reform proposal as a boon for the middle class, American workers and American manufacturing. 
 
 The President said his tax cut proposal wouldn't help the country's wealthiest taxpayers, like himself, as he promised to strip away tax breaks and loopholes. 
 
 "It's not good for me, believe me," Trump said. 
 
 The claim was impossible to verify, though, as Trump has refused to release his tax returns. Trump is the first president in four decades not to do so. 
 
 Trump said that while wealthy, "well-connected" people could "call me all they want, it's not going to help," saying he was "doing the right thing." 
 
 The President's tax reform framework proposes cutting the top income tax bracket from 39.5% to 35%, though the plan gives congressional committees latitude to create a fourth, higher income tax bracket. 
 
 While Trump claimed parts of his tax proposal would hurt his wallet, he seemed sure the plan would bolster his popularity. 
 
 "What is good for me, not only as President and legacy, what is good for me is if everything takes off like a rocket ship," Trump said. "Like it should have for 20 years. That's good for me. That's good for everyone. And that's what I think is going to happen. And a lot of very wealthy people feel the same way, believe me." 
 
 Still, while the President focused on the benefits the tax proposal would deliver to middle class Americans, he made clear it would also be a boon for big business. 
 
 Beyond slashing the corporate tax rate to "no higher than 20%," Trump's proposal also offers write-offs for companies that move their manufacturing plants to the US and would incentivize the repatriation of "trillions" of dollars in US companies' profits stashed in tax havens overseas. 
 
 "Our framework will stop punishing companies for keeping their headquarters in the United States. We're punishing companies under our codes for being in the United States," Trump said. "When our companies move to other countries it's our loyal American workers who get hurt." 
 
 Trump said his business-friendly policies would lead to increased wages and economic gains in the US. The GOP framework would also cap the tax rate for small businesses at 25%, Trump said. 
 
 The framework is the result of months of closed-door discussions between top Trump administration officials and Republican congressional leaders, but Trump has signaled in recent weeks that he is hoping to win some Democratic support for his proposal. 
 
 Trump's trek to Indiana on Wednesday was the third time he has pitched tax reform in a red state that is home to a vulnerable Democratic senator, this time Sen. Joe Donnelly, who joined Trump for the speech. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Trump: I'm very good at cutting taxes Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump: I'm very good at cutting taxes 01:09 
 
 Trump took the opportunity to turn up the heat on Donnelly, who is up for reelection in 2018, warning him to support tax reform, or else. 
 
 "If Sen. Donnelly doesn't approve it -- because you know he's on the other side -- we will come here, we will campaign against him like you wouldn't believe," Trump said, pointing at Donnelly in the audience before suddenly offering a wide grin. "I think they're going to approve it, I think we'll have, actually I think we'll have numerous Democrats come across, because it's the right thing to do." 
 
 Trump added that "tax reform has not historically been a bipartisan issue," drawing on the example of the Reagan tax cuts which were passed with significant Democratic support as he said he hoped Democrats would join in supporting the reform effort. 
 
 Donnelly, who traveled with the President to his Indianapolis event said the framework is missing details. 
 
 "As it stands, the framework released today is missing many details that will be critical to determining whether working- and middle-class families truly stand to benefit," he said in a statement following the speech. 
 
 "I work for Hoosiers, not President Trump or any political party," he added. 
 
 Trump drew on the stories of ordinary Americans as he made his pitch, referring to a seventh-generation farmer to call for a repeal of the estate tax, drawing on the story of a small business owner as he calls for tax cuts and pulling from the experiences of an IT worker whom Trump said has seen firsthand the damage of the US' high corporate tax rate. 
 
 The GOP proposal, being presented jointly by the White House, House Ways & Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee, calls for reducing income tax rates to three brackets of 12%, 25% and 35%, but leaves the income ranges for those brackets up to tax committees, according to a copy of the Republican framework obtained by CNN. The proposal also gives committees the flexibility to create a fourth bracket that could potentially eliminate a potential tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. 
 
 The proposals also calls for doubling the standard deduction to $24,000 for married couples and $12,000 for single filers. 
 
 The framework also calls for slashing the corporate tax rate to 20%, though Trump has for months said he would like to see the 35% rate brought down to 15%. Trump sought to justify the shift on Wednesday, saying that he only floated 15% as a negotiating tactic. 
 
 "I wanted to start at 15 to get there," Trump said. 
 
 Trump's push on tax reform comes on the heels of his latest in a string of stinging defeats on health care reform, with Senate Republicans repeatedly failing to string together 50 votes to replace Obamacare. 
 
 The White House is now aiming to push tax reform through Congress by the end of the year. ||||| President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans unveiled Wednesday their plan for a massive tax overhaul. 
 
 The plan, meant to be a framework for Congress to negotiate into legislation, still has missing parts. But read on for a look at who wins and loses under the proposal as it stands now. 
 
 Winners 
 
 Corporations with high tax rates: The framework lowers the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent. Trump initially wanted to lower it to 15 percent but said his “red line” for the rate is 20. 
 
 It also lowers the tax rate for small businesses to 25 percent. The majority of small business owners would use the extra cash to expand businesses and hire additional employees, Alfredo Ortiz, president of the nonprofit Job Creators Network, told Fox News. 
 
 Heirs to large estates: The plan eliminates the so-called death tax, or estate tax. The federal estate tax, which typically affects wealthier Americans, is a tax on property transferred after the owner’s death. 
 
 People who do their own taxes: With the framework, Republicans hoped to simplify the tax code and the way Americans file their taxes. The plan collapses the number of brackets from seven to as little as three. 
 
 High-income households: The framework includes multiple tax cuts for high-income taxpayers, including the elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax. The AMT is a supplemental income tax meant to offset benefits a person with a high economic income could receive. 
 
 Low-income households: The plan doubles the standard deduction, which reduces the amount of taxed income, to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples, making low-income taxpayers a winner, Steve Odland, CEO of the Committee for Economic Development, told Fox News. 
 
 It also increases the child tax credit which could be beneficial to families. 
 
 Losers 
 
 Taxpayers in high-tax states: The plan eliminates state and local tax deductions, meaning taxpayers in states with high taxes will lose out on the write-off. This impacts those in mostly blue states, such as California and New York. 
 
 Congressional New York Republicans have warned that they will not vote for a plan that includes the removal. 
 
 Accountants: Because the plan would streamline the tax process, less people would potentially need to hire tax accountants, lawyers and firms, Odland predicted. 
 
 Trump has said he wants to put H&R Block "out of business." 
 
 National debt: The plan would result in approximately $2.2 trillion of net tax cuts -- a blow to the national debt, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said. 
 
 “Given today’s record-high levels of national debt, the country cannot afford a deficit-financed tax cut,” the nonprofit said. 
 
 Social programs: With the greatly reduced amount of tax collections the plan calls for, it’s possible that domestic spending on programs such as welfare programs and education could take a hit, Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Fox News. 
 
 People who want a concrete plan: Aaron also said the plan was lacking in details, making it difficult for policy experts to come up with concrete estimates of the framework’s impact. 
 
 “People can make assumptions about what the details will be and make estimates based on their assumptions, but you won’t really know until the details are in,” he said. ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201708/1987/1155968404_5558237370001_5558201978001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Trump’s populist message on taxes comes with heavy dose of corporate rate cuts Trump’s speech didn't mask the fact that lawmakers still face a wide range of knotty questions when they return to Washington next week. 
 
 President Donald Trump kicked off his efforts to sell a big tax package to voters on Wednesday, calling for a “pro-American” system that would cut tax rates for businesses and offer a boost to the middle class. 
 
 Trump maintained that a new tax system was crucial to ushering in a new prosperity in the U.S., in a speech that White House officials acknowledged beforehand would be light on policy details. 
 
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 The president laid out several principles for tax reform, including cleaning the code of tax breaks and offering tax relief to middle-class families. But in a speech meant to put a populist polish on tax reform, Trump also spoke repeatedly about the need to lower the statutory corporate tax rate — which, at 35 percent, stands among the highest in the industrialized world — and to give companies more opportunity to bring back profits they’ve stashed offshore. 
 
 “Instead of exporting our jobs, we will export our goods. Our jobs will both stay here in America and come back to America. We'll have it both ways,” Trump said at a Springfield, Mo., manufacturer, adding that millions of people would move from welfare to work and “will love earning a big fat beautiful paycheck.” 
 
 “We believe that ordinary Americans know better than Washington how to spend their own money and we want to help them take home as much of their money as possible and then spend it,” he said. “So they'll keep their money, they'll spend their money, they'll buy our product.” 
 
 But Trump’s speech also underscored just how big a challenge he and a Republican Congress will face in pulling off a true overhaul of the tax code. The president only briefly touched on policy details, saying that businesses would “ideally” be taxed at a top rate of 15 percent and that the tax code would contain incentives for child care — a top priority of his daughter, Ivanka Trump. 
 
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 The president also laid bare some of the tensions that have erupted between the White House and GOP lawmakers following the implosion of their efforts to repeal Obamacare. 
 
 “I am fully committed to working with Congress to get this job done,” Trump said. “And I don’t want to be disappointed by Congress. Do you understand me?” 
 
 Trump’s speech was aimed at showing that Republicans have the message down on tax reform, but lawmakers have yet to confront the monumental task of turning the rhetoric into reality. 
 
 Senior White House officials this week repeatedly billed the president’s speech as an address focused on why tax reform needs to happen, not how it will materialize. That’s the sort of big-picture cover on taxes that Trump didn’t offer congressional leaders in their doomed efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. 
 
 But while congressional leaders undoubtedly welcome the president making the broad case for a tax revamp, Trump’s speech doesn't mask the fact that lawmakers still face a wide range of knotty questions when they return to Washington next week. 
 
 Republicans still have to figure out how to pass a budget this fall, a process that will play a big role in deciding how generous a tax plan they can write. They also have to decide whether tax changes should be permanent or temporary, or a mix of the two, and whether their plan should be a net tax cut that would add to the deficit. 
 
 And that’s before they will feel the full brunt of a massive lobbying push on what would be the first major tax overhaul in more than 30 years. Already, GOP lawmakers are starting to hear from industries that might be the losers in a tax overhaul, such as big corporations that don’t want a minimum tax on foreign earnings and a retirement sector wary of potential changes to savings plans. 
 
 The hurdles won’t be limited to policy, either, after a summer that saw both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue grow increasingly wary of the other as the GOP’s health care efforts imploded. Republicans on Capitol Hill steamed privately in July that Trump’s obsession with White House infighting and the Russia controversy was a major factor in the death of the repeal effort. They’re crossing their fingers that he won’t be so easily distracted on tax reform. 
 
 That’s because Hill Republicans will need Trump to use his bully pulpit for tax reform to cross the finish line, and GOP leaders believe Trump is uniquely able to reach the entire electorate in a way Hill leaders never could. As one House GOP leadership aide put it, the speech shows the White House is rowing in the same direction as the Hill, reassuring lawmakers that tax reform is possible. 
 
 But the ultimate test will come when the House, which is expected to move first on taxes, drops its bill. There are questions, following the health care debacle, over whether the White House will embrace the legislation as its own — or distance itself from the plan as a House effort once the critics and special interests start getting louder. 
 
 GOP leaders on the Hill say the weekly tax reform meetings with administration officials suggest that the White House and Congress will stand firm in their unity behind the jointly laid plan. Meanwhile, top Trump aides and advisers, like Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, have made it clear that lawmakers will take the lead on actually writing the tax bill. 
 
 “The administration has been very well represented in this process,” a senior White House official said Tuesday. 
 
 That unity will be tested, however, when various interests start picking apart the plan. Plenty of powerful industries could be hurt by a tax overhaul, which will undoubtedly complicate efforts to get lawmakers on board with the effort. The housing sector, for instance, is concerned about chatter that Republicans would consider both capping the mortgage interest deduction and ending the deduction for state and local taxes. The GOP is also looking at curbing the pre-tax benefits for contributing to retirement accounts, raising anxiety among that industry. 
 
 All sorts of businesses are also worried that Republicans might end the long-standing deduction for business interest, something the House GOP proposed in its blueprint last year. 
 
 The Alliance for Competitive Taxation, a coalition that includes Google, IBM and Pfizer, warned against across-the-board limits on the interest deduction in a new paper this week while also coming out against a minimum tax on offshore earnings that has gained traction since the death of the House GOP’s border adjustment. 
 
 “Imposition of a foreign minimum tax on the active business income of U.S. companies would have unintended and adverse consequences,” wrote the group, which also wants Washington to drastically cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent and to generally limit the taxation of offshore income for multinational corporations. 
 
 Beyond the policies that have yet to be ironed out, Hill Republicans still have to pass a budget in order to tackle partisan tax reform — a major hurdle in itself. 
 
 House Republicans, divided among moderates and conservatives, have been unsuccessfully trying to reach a budget deal for months. But while GOP insiders believe they’ll finally advance their fiscal blueprint in September, they’ll still need to strike a deal with Senate Republicans, whose fiscal blueprint is likely to look entirely different, sending the House back to square one. 
 
 Without a budget, Republicans would need Democrats to pass any tax bill — an uphill battle for an increasingly unpopular president, especially considering that 45 Senate Democrats have vowed not to back any measure that includes tax cuts for the wealthy or adds to the deficit. 
 
 “The millionaires and the billionaires in this country are doing just fine, God bless them, don't have any problem with that,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a conference call ahead of Trump’s speech.
– President Trump launched his push for tax reform Wednesday in Indianapolis, promising a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" and "revolutionary change." "Under our framework, we will dramatically cut the business tax rate so that American companies and American workers can beat our foreign competitors and start winning again," USA Today quotes Trump as saying. The New York Times reports the proposed framework reduces the corporate tax rate to 20%, doubles deductions for married and single filers to $24,000 and $12,000 respectively, and reduces the number of tax brackets from seven to three. The top bracket would see a reduced tax rate; the lowest bracket would see an increased tax rate. Overall, Trump claims the plan represents the biggest tax cut in history: "There's never been tax cuts like we're talking about." Trump is promising the middle class will be "the biggest winners" of his tax plan, which will cause "jobs to start pouring into our country." But the framework presented lacks details to show whether that would or would not be the case. (CNN reports Trump also claims the plan is "not good for me," but that's impossible to prove without his tax returns.) The framework does, however, include details that will specifically benefit rich Americans, for example by getting rid of inheritance taxes paid by the country's wealthiest families. Without further specifics, the head of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget calls Trump's tax plan "nothing more than a fiscal fantasy." Trump says he wants to work with Democrats to fill in those details, but Republican leaders say they'll likely use a special rule to pass tax reform without Democratic support.