Republicans approve final US tax bill

Republicans approve final US tax bill
By Euronews
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Passage of the bill, which would see sweeping tax reforms including the lowering of corporate tax rates, would mark the first major legislative victory for President Donald Trump since he took office in January.

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Congressional Republicans have agreed the final version of their sweeping tax reform which will see cuts for businesses and the wealthy but only some middle-class Americans.

Passage of the biggest US tax rewrite in thirty years was also given a boost on Friday, when two wavering senators said they would support the bill in next week's vote.

It would reduce the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, according to a summary distributed to reporters by congressional tax writers.

It would also create a 20 percent business income tax deduction for owners of "pass-through" businesses like partnerships and sole proprietorships; allow for immediate write off by corporations of new equipment costs; and eliminate the corporate alternative minimum tax.

House Ways and Means Committee chairman Kevin Brady said: "I do predict that both the House and the Senate will approve this tax reform bill. There's lots of momentum building.

"Everyone's lives will be better off under tax reform, because of the tax relief that families' get, because of the higher paychecks, because we have a stronger economy, and again, this is also about bringing jobs back from overseas."

Should the bill pass, it would mark the first major legislative victory for President Trump since he took office in January.

However, three Republican lawmakers remain uncommitted, enough to defeat the measure in the Senate, where Trump's party only holds a slim 52-48 majority.

Despite this, Wall Street's three major indexes tallied record closing highs on Friday as traders anticipated lower corporate tax rates.

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