GOP/TAXES: “Senate Republicans’ proposal to rewrite the tax code breaks significantly with the one crafted by the House GOP, confronting party leaders with dozens of differences to reconcile and little time before the year-end deadline they’ve set to pass it.
The Senate plan, released late Thursday [11-9-17], contrasts with the House version in key areas, including the timing of a corporate tax-rate cut, the number of individual tax brackets, the details of international tax rules, and the particulars of estate-tax changes.
Despite the differences, Republicans say they are confident they can prevail in cutting taxes by about $1.5 trillion over a decade, aided by an advertising blitz from business groups and conservatives and motivated by the political imperative to rack up a major legislative victory ahead of next year’s mid-term elections.
House and Senate Republicans are trying to refine and pass their respective bills in the next few weeks, needing to reconcile their differences while operating with slim majorities and working against the backdrop of rough election defeats this week that make some lawmakers more wary of disturbing a restive electorate.”
-Richard Rubin, “Senate Tax Plan Differs From House on Individual Rates, Timing of Corporate Rate Cut,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 9, 2017 10:47pm