New Senate tax plan hands ammunition to Democrats

Hatch's revised legislation would make individual tax cuts temporary, business cuts permanent.

By BRIAN FALER 11/15/2017 10:57 AM EST

Senate Republicans are on the defensive after proposing to only offer temporary tax cuts to millions of Americans as part of a revised plan to overhaul the tax code.

While they want to make a host of business tax cuts permanent, they would make reductions in tax rates, expansions of the standard deduction and child tax credit and other provisions expire after 2025.

The changes, in a revamped plan unveiled late Tuesday by Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, are designed to comply with arcane budget rules barring the legislation from adding to the debt over the long term.

While Republicans can cut taxes by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, they cannot add even one nickel to the deficit after that. So the plan aims to abide by that rule by turning off the individual tax cuts, much like former President George W. Bush’s tax cuts had an expiration date.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/15/senate-tax-plan-temporary-cuts-244926?lo=ap_b1