Republicans Say They Have a Deal on Tax Bill

Source: N.Y Times:

December 13, 2017 at 13:42

President Trump praised House and Senate negotiators in a lunch meeting at the White House. “We’re very close to getting it done, we’re very close to voting,” Mr. Trump said, of the tax bill. He added later “This is the biggest thing that we’ve worked on.”

WASHINGTON — House and Senate Republicans have reached an agreement, in principle, on a consensus tax bill on Wednesday, keeping the party on track for final votes next week with the aim of delivering a bill to President Trump’s desk by Christmas, according to people briefed on the deal.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the majority whip, told reporters that Republicans will be briefed on the deal today, and that he is confident it will be approved next week.

The agreement drops the corporate tax rate to drop to 21 percent from the current 35 percent rate and will go into effect in 2018, rather than 2019, as the Senate bill originally called for. The bill also allows individuals to choose between deducting $10,000 in income and property taxes, a move intended to alleviate the concerns of House Republicans over the bill’s treatment of the state and local tax deduction.

Lawmakers also agreed to rescind the corporate alternative minimum tax, which was included in the Senate bill as a way to pay for some of the other items to help keep the bill within the $1.5 trillion bucket lawmakers have allowed for the bill. The inclusion of the corporate A.M.T. was criticized by many business groups, who said it would prohibit their ability to use tax credits for research and development and other tax breaks.

And the top individual income tax rate will drop to 37 percent, down from the current rate of 39.6 percent.

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