GOP/TAXES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The House Republican tax plan will preserve a top individual tax rate of 39.6%, according to people familiar with the matter, though party leaders are delaying its release by a day to iron out unresolved issues.
The plan for the top rate marks a retreat for Republicans on a question that has spurred intense debate in Washington: How will a tax overhaul treat the most affluent Americans? Republicans last year had been discussing a top rate of 33%, and then moved to 35% earlier this year. But they left themselves open to the possibility of keeping it unchanged or lowering it by some smaller amount…
Republicans, eager to push the bill through the House by Thanksgiving and onto Mr. Trump’s desk this year, are preparing an aggressive sales job, bolstered by outside conservative groups and the White House and built around the case that the tax cuts will boost the economy.”
-Richard Rubin, Siobhhan Hughes, and Kristina Peterson, “GOP Tax Plan Won’t Cut Rate for Highest Earners,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 31, 2017 10:18pm