9/12/2017

STEVEN MNUCHIN/TAXES/TREASURY: “Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday [9-12-17] the GOP’s tax overhaul proposal would seek to exclude services companies from enjoying a new lower rate on businesses that don’t pay corporate taxes.
Mr. Mnuchin emphasized that policy makers want to ensure they don’t create loopholes for certain individuals or businesses to take advantage of the lower corporate rates for so-called pass-through businesses that pay taxes on their owners’ individual returns…
Rep. Kevin Brady (R., Texas), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said last week that policy makers want to lower the tax rates on corporations and pass-through businesses by the same percentage. If the corporate rate is reduced from 35% to the low 20s, that suggests a pass-through tax rate in the high 20s.
Mr. Mnuchin also said the administration and GOP tax writers are ‘absolutely’ open to making any tax law retroactive to Jan. 1, allowing companies and individuals to take advantage of the new rules on income earned this year.
Policy makers from the administration and Congress, known collectively as the Big Six, have been working on the details of their plan to rewrite the U.S. tax code for months, and are aiming to put out a more detailed blueprint in the coming weeks, Mr. Mnuchin said late last month.
The Treasury secretary said Tuesday he is still ‘incredibly hopeful’ that Congress will pass tax legislation by the end of the year.”

-Kate Davidson, “Mnuchin: Services Companies Won’t Get ‘Pass-Through’ Rate Under Tax Plan,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 12, 2017 10:00am