The bill is heavily weighted toward business, which would receive about $1 trillion in net cuts, or two-thirds of the total, according to calculations by the Joint Committee on Taxation that were released Thursday by the Ways and Means Committee. At its center is a proposal to permanently cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent — a change that is estimated to reduce federal revenues by $1.5 trillion over the next decade alone.
For individuals, the plan establishes three tax brackets — 12, 25 and 35 percent — instead of the seven that exist now and maintains a top rate of 39.6 percent for millionaires. The bill would also eliminate the alternative minimum tax, which is expected to hit 4.5 million families in 2017, and would roughly double the standard deduction for middle-class families. It would not, as many had feared, make any changes to the pretax treatment of 401(k) plans.
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But the legislation includes several land mines that could complicate its passage, including limits on the popular mortgage interest deduction and caps on the state and local tax deduction, as well as its overall cost. Several Republicans from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey said the bill would need to change to gain their support, while powerful trade groups representing the real estate industry and small businesses blasted the bill as ineffective and harmful to Americans.