Analysis: Tax Bill Will Increase Deficit
(1 Dec 2017) Ryan Alexander, the president of the non-partisan group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, says the Joint Committee on Taxation has found that the Senate's current tax bill will increase the deficit by close to a trillion dollars by 2017. "The dynamic score that counts on economic growth says it will be more than a trillion dollars an increase in the deficit," Alexander said. Senate Republicans steamed toward passage of a $1.4 trillion tax bill Friday, overcoming eleventh-hour hitches in their drive to deliver a major legislative accomplishment to President Donald Trump by Christmas. With the party controlling the Senate 52-48 and Democrats uniformly opposed, Republicans need 50 votes to win approval for the bill. Vice President Mike Pence would break a tie. In a flurry of last minute deal-making to win over votes, GOP leaders also agreed to more generous tax breaks for millions of businesses. Companies whose owners pay taxes on profits using individual tax rates would be allowed larger deductions than the original bill, and the legislation's phase-out of tax breaks for companies buying equipment would be slowed. "The big picture though is that this is a significant corporate rate reduction, rate reductions for many individuals, so you know in the next year most individuals will pay a little less tax, some will pay a lot less tax and some people will pay more taxes," Alexander said. A GOP summary obtained by The Associated Press showed that to pay for the changes, the new plan would scale back several tax cuts. Trump administration officials and leading congressional Republicans have said the measure's tax cuts would spark enough economic growth to pay for the lowered levies. The projection left the votes of several GOP lawmakers in doubt Unlike the tax bill passed by the House two weeks ago, the Senate measure would end the requirement in President Barack Obama's health care law that people pay a tax penalty if they don't buy health insurance. The tax cuts for individuals in the Senate plan would expire in 2026 while the corporate tax cuts would be permanent. Both the House and Senate bills would nearly double the standard deduction to around $12,000 for individuals and about $24,000 for married couples. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
