House Passes Massive GOP Tax Cuts
House Republicans passed a $5.5 trillion tax bill Thursday, in a major step toward rewriting the nation’s tax code and providing a sorely needed legislative victory for President Donald Trump.
The bill passed 227-205, with 13 Republicans breaking with leadership to vote against the legislation.
Not a single Democrat backed the bill, highlighting the sharp partisan split as the tax fight moves to the narrowly-divided Senate.
“This is about giving hardworking taxpayers bigger paychecks, more take-home pay… It’s about getting this economy to grow faster, so we get bigger wages, more jobs, and we put America in the driver’s seat in the global economy one again,” said Speaker Paul Ryan.
The legislation would slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent starting next year, down from 35 percent.
It sets the top small business rate at 25 percent for pass-through entities and also includes a far lower rate of 9 percent for some types of small businesses on the first $75,000 of profits.
For individuals, it axes a number of popular deductions, including the state and local tax deduction, medical expenses deduction and student loan deductions but would double the standard deduction and condense the seven tax brackets into four.
