WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican plans to build on last year’s U.S. tax legislation will include making individual and small business tax cuts permanent, expanding savings plans and giving breaks to start-up companies, according to documents released on Tuesday by the chief architect of the legislation.
The outline for “Tax Reform 2.0” distributed by House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady also said the legislation would establish “a new commitment to improve the tax code each and every year for American families and local businesses.”
Brady outlined the package to Republican lawmakers on Tuesday, setting in motion a weekslong period for House Republicans to offer feedback. He said he expects the committee to approve the bill and send it to the whole chamber in September, which would put tax reform front and center going into November’s congressional elections.
Light on details, Brady’s two-page framework said the bill would permanently lock in the middle-class and small-business tax cuts that were created in last year’s overhaul. It also would create Universal Savings Accounts for families while expanding the ways the college-savings accounts known as “529s” can be spent and allowing parents to cover the expenses for newborns or recent adoptees with their retirement savings accounts.
It also said the bill would “help brand-new businesses write off more of their initial start-up costs and remove barriers to growth” in order to spur innovation.
The 2017 tax package slashed the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent and temporarily reduced the tax burden for most individuals as well. Democrats had opposed it as a giveaway to the wealthy that would add $1.5 trillion to the $20 trillion national debt during the next decade.
