House Republicans Unveil Plan to Make Individuals’ Tax Cuts Permanent
(Worthy News) – House Republicans have introduced legislation to lock in cuts to individual tax rates beyond 2025, a proposal that will have trouble advancing in the Senate but which sends a signal about GOP priorities ahead of competitive midterm elections.
The sweeping, $1.5 trillion tax cut enacted into law last year permanently lowered the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. But reductions in individual tax rates were scheduled to expire after eight years so the GOP could meet a restriction imposed as a condition of the fast-track reconciliation procedures used to pass the new tax law. The restriction mandated that the tax law couldn’t increase budget deficits beyond 2027.
The extension of lower, individual tax rates is contained in legislation that is part of a three-bill package. Besides permanently lowering individual rates, the measure would also lock in the new standard deduction, which increased to $12,000 per individual and $24,000 for a married couple, and the special deduction for owners of pass-through businesses, in which business revenues flow through to the tax returns of individual owners. The package also contains measures dealing with retirement savings and aimed at helping startups. [ Source: Wall Street Journal (Read More…) ]