Funding increase announced for Indian trust

? Senate Republican leaders wrangled with the last few GOP holdouts Thursday as they pushed toward passing the first major rewrite of the nation’s tax code in more than three decades, a package that would impact rich and the poor as well as businesses big and small.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he expected a final vote late Thursday or early Friday on a $1.4 trillion package that would slash the corporate tax rate, offer more modest cuts for families and individuals and eliminate several popular deductions.

Lawmakers would then try to reconcile the Senate package with one passed by the House in the hope of delivering a major legislative accomplishment to President Donald Trump by Christmas. Republicans have cast passage of a tax overhaul as a political imperative to ensure they hold their House and Senate majorities in next year’s midterm elections.

“We’re heading down the homestretch,” McConnell told reporters on Thursday.

The package would add $1 trillion to the budget deficit over the next decade, much less than previously projected, according to a congressional analysis released Thursday.

The tax bill would increase economic growth, generating an additional $458 billion in tax revenue, according to the analysis by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. The committee previously estimated that the package would add $1.4 trillion to the deficit.

The additional revenue is a boost to the bill but is still far short of the $2 trillion promised by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, announced their support for the tax package Thursday, giving it a major boost. Both McCain and Murkowski had voted against the GOP bill to dismantle the Obama health care law this past summer in a blow to the GOP.

Their support is key because Senate Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate, meaning they can only afford to lose two votes, with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaker.

“It’s clear this bill’s net effect on our economy would be positive,” McCain said in a statement. “This is not a perfect bill, but it is one that would deliver much-needed reform to our tax code, grow the economy, and help Americans keep more of their hard-earned money.”

Murkowski said she supports the tax bill now that it would allow oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Murkowski got the provision added earlier this week, but the initial version violated arcane Senate rules about which provisions can be added to the tax bill.

Murkowski said Thursday the provision was tweaked to comply. “We have done it and we’re ready to go,” she said.

Drilling in the refuge has long been a contentious issue, pitting environmentalists against those who want to increase domestic oil production.

Senators were still grappling with several issues Thursday, including how to craft a trigger that would impose automatic tax increases if the tax package doesn’t raise as much revenue as projected. The provision would mollify deficit hawks who worry that the massive package of tax cuts for businesses and individuals would add too much to the nation’s mounting debt.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, called the trigger “a work in progress” Thursday afternoon.

Senators were also considering whether to add a deduction for local property taxes. The current Senate bill completely eliminates the federal deduction for state and local taxes, a popular deduction in the Democratic-leaning states of New York, New Jersey, California and Illinois as well as many wealthy suburbs nationwide.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, proposed an amendment to let homeowners deduct up to $10,000 in local property taxes on the their federal returns. It is similar to a provision in the House-passed bill.

Without the deduction, Collins said, it would be “very problematic for me” to vote for the bill.

Collins would make up the estimated $146 billion in lost revenue by keeping the personal income tax rate for the wealthiest earners at 39.6 percent and make a smaller cut in the corporate tax rate. Trump and other Republicans insist that the corporate tax rate must be reduced from 35 percent to 20 percent.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., backed the package Wednesday after securing an increase in the deduction for business income from 17.4 percent to 20 percent. The deduction is for business owners who report their business income on their individual tax returns.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., has also been pushing to increase the tax break for these business owners. He has been noncommittal about his support, even with the change secured by Daines.

The tax package would mark the first time in 31 years that Congress has overhauled the tax code.

The plan would nearly double the standard deduction to around $12,000 for individuals and about $24,000 for married couples. The tax cuts for individuals would expire in 2026 while the corporate tax cuts would be permanent.

Under Senate rules, senators can offer unlimited amendments, setting up the possibility of dozens of votes that could stretch all night into Friday morning.

Highlights of Senate, House GOP bills to overhaul tax code

The Senate is weighing a roughly $1.4 trillion tax overhaul. The House passed a nearly $1.5 trillion tax bill two weeks ago that differs in key respects. A comparison of the two Republican-written measures:

–Personal income tax rates: Senate bill retains the current number of brackets, seven, but changes them to 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35 and 38.5 percent. Under current law, the top bracket for wealthiest earners is 39.6 percent. House measure condenses seven brackets to four: 12, 25, 35 and 39.6 percent.

–Standard deduction: Used by about 70 percent of U.S. taxpayers, currently $6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for married couples. Senate, House bills both double those levels to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for couples.

–Personal exemption: Both bills eliminate the current $4,050 personal exemption.

–State and local taxes: Senate bill eliminates the entire federal deduction for state and local taxes. House ends deductions for state and local income and sales taxes, allows it for up to $10,000 in property taxes.

–Tax credits: Senate doubles per-child tax credit to $2,000. House raises per-child tax credit from $1,000 to $1,600, extends it to families earning up to $230,000. Creates a $300 tax credit for each adult in a family, which expires in 2023. Both bills preserve the adoption tax credit.

–Home mortgage interest deduction: Senate retains the current limit for the deduction to interest paid on the first $1 million of the loan. House reduces the limit to $500,000, for new home purchases.

–Other deductions: Senate bill preserves deduction for medical expenses not covered by insurance but ends deductions for moving expenses and tax preparation. House eliminates medical expense deduction.

–Individual insurance mandate: Senate bill repeals the requirement in Democrat Barack Obama’s health care law that people pay a tax penalty if they don’t purchase health insurance. House bill does not.

–Alternative minimum tax: Senate, House bills both repeal the levy aimed at ensuring that higher-earning people pay at least some tax.

–Inheritance tax: Currently, when someone dies the estate owes taxes on the value of assets transferred to heirs above $5.5 million for individuals, $11 million for couples. Senate bill doubles those limits but does not repeal the tax. House initially doubles the limits and then repeals the entire tax after 2023.

–Corporate taxes: Senate, House bills both cut current 35 percent rate to 20 percent, but Senate has one-year delay in dropping the rate.

–Pass-through businesses: Millions of U.S. businesses “pass through” their income to individuals, who then pay personal income tax on those earnings, not corporate tax. Senate bill lets people deduct some of the earnings and then pay at their personal income tax rate on the remainder. House measure taxes many of the pass-through businesses at 25 percent, plus creates a 9 percent rate for the first $75,000 in earnings for some smaller pass-throughs.

–Businesses: Senate, House bills both expand write-offs allowed for companies that buy equipment.

–Multinational corporations: Senate bill ends tax advantages for firms moving overseas. House levies 10 percent tax on profits for overseas subsidiaries of U.S. corporations, and seeks to eliminate tax incentives that encourage some U.S. companies to move overseas.

(By The Associated Press)