WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives passed their tax bill, cobbling together a solid coalition to move tax cuts forward. The way the sausage is made in the Swamp is never pretty, and already this tax bill leaves plenty to be desired, but at least the ball is moving in the right direction. That is, until the Senate intercepts it and fumbles with their own sense of discombobulation.
President Trump won’t hold a Rose Garden ceremony like his premature victory lap before the Obamacare repeal reversal, but you can bet their is some reassurance that at least some progress is being made toward tax reform goals.
House Republicans on Thursday passed a monumental bill to cut taxes on businesses and individuals, the biggest step yet in the GOP’s once-in-a-generation effort to overhaul the American tax system.
The tax reform plan passed the chamber with 227 votes in favor and 205 against.
To pass the bill, the House GOP had to overcome opposition from several of its members who live in high-tax blue states. Those lawmakers objected to the proposal’s curb on popular state and local tax deductions.
The House plan would permanently chop the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent and make other tweaks aiming to make businesses more competitive. It would reduce individual tax brackets to four from seven and make changes to several tax breaks. Among them, the bill would limit state and local deductions and the mortgage interest deduction, eliminate the personal exemption and nearly double the standard deduction.
The vote marks a significant achievement as Republicans push to put a tax bill on President Donald Trump’s desk by Christmas. Trump, who along with most congressional Republicans ran on a pledge to trim taxes, went to Capitol Hill to push GOP lawmakers to support the bill before the vote.
Despite passage of the bill Thursday, pitfalls await the party.
Senate Republicans hope to pass their own bill as soon as the week after Thanksgiving. One GOP senator — Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — opposes the chamber’s bill as written.
Several other Republicans in the Senate, where the GOP holds a slim two-seat majority, have expressed doubts about the upper chamber’s version.
Read more on what senators think on the House tax version here.
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