As we’ve been following the ongoing talks about Tax Reform, Thomson Reuters has released information on what went down last night when the Senate Republicans took initiative to settle Trump’s tax cut bill.
Thomson Reuters released the following information:
U.S. Senate Republicans rammed forward President Donald Trump’s tax cut bill on Tuesday in an abrupt, partisan committee vote that set up a full vote by the Senate as soon as Thursday, although some details of the measure remained unsettled.
If the Senate approves its tax measure later this week, it would need to be reconciled with a version already approved by the House of Representatives before anything could be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law.
Republican leaders conceded that they have yet to round up the votes needed for passage in the Senate.
The Senate bill would slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent after a one-year delay. It would impose a onetime, cut-rate tax on corporations’ foreign profits, while exempting future foreign profits from U.S. taxation.
Tax rates for many individuals and families would also be cut temporarily before rising back to their previous levels in 2025. Key tax breaks would also be curbed or eliminated, making the bill a mixed bag for some middle-class families. Some taxes paid by wealthy Americans would be repealed.
Senator Bob Corker
As written, the bill would widen the U.S. budget deficit by an estimated $1.4 trillion over 10 years. Republicans maintain that gap would be narrowed by additional economic growth.
Senator Bob Corker, one of few remaining Republican fiscal hawks in Congress, said he worked out a deal satisfying his concerns that the tax cuts add too much to the national debt.
He said the bill would be modified to automatically raise tax revenues if growth targets were not reached. “We got a commitment that puts us in a pretty good place”, he said. Details were not immediately available.
The Corker concession was one of several lingering uncertainties in the bill that Senate aides said would be nailed down as the measure neared a floor vote.
Republican Senator Ron Johnson voted for the bill in the budget committee, even though he had said it does not cut taxes deeply enough for some non-corporate businesses.
The final version could address his concerns. Aides said tax writers were working to change the tax rate for non-corporate businesses, preserve an individual deduction for property tax payments, and incorporate Corker’s tax revenue idea.
Lawmakers must renew government funding before it expires on Dec. 8 or risk a shutdown. Democrats hope to use their leverage on the budget issue to renew protections for young immigrants who entered the country illegally as children.
Rackers & Fernandez LLC will continue to update our clients as developments occur.
