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GOP tax bill passes House

as Senate plans vote for
late Tuesday
By Jeff Stein December 19 at 3:21 PM

The House of Representatives passed Republicans sweeping tax overhaul on Tuesday, sending the plan to the Senate
and setting the stage for the bill to be signed by President Trump as early as this week.

The bill passed the House 227 to 203. All but 12 Republican members voted for the bill. Zero Democrats supported it.

This is one of the most important pieces of legislation Congress has passed in decades ... for all those millions of
Americans struggling paycheck to paycheck, help is on the way, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said after the
vote. This is a good day for workers ... and a great day for growth.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) echoed Ryan. On New Years Day, America will have a
new tax code for a new era of American prosperity, he said.

Senate Republicans are planning to vote Tuesday night. Party leaders appeared to have sewn up the bills passage
Friday when holdout Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.) pledged their support. Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) is in Arizona battling brain cancer and is not expected to attend the vote, though he has said he
supports the bill.

Congress is standing at the doorstep of a historic opportunity, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
said as he announced plans for the Tuesday night vote. Here's what we set out to do: Take money out of
Washington's pockets and put it pack in the pockets of middle-class Americans.

Trump has for months pushed Congress to send him a tax plan by Christmas, and its passage would represent
Republicans first major legislative victory since taking control of Congress and the White House in January.
The core of the tax plan, which was unveiled in final form on Friday, is a massive and permanent cut to the corporate
tax rate, dropping it from 35 percent to 21 percent. Other businesses would receive large cuts, as well.

The plan would also cut individual tax rates for all income tax levels. The largest cuts would go to the wealthy, but in
2018 nearly all Americans will see their income taxes go down, according to a nonpartisan analysis of the final plan
released Monday. Families earning less than $25,000 a year would receive an average tax cut of $60, while those
earning more $733,000 would see an average cut of $51,000, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Many of the individual tax breaks are set to expire in coming years. Republicans set those expiration dates to comply
with Senate limits on how much their bill could add to the nations deficit. They say a future Congress will extend
them or make them permanent. Without that promised intervention, the measure would raise taxes on 53 percent of
Americans by 2027, according to the centers report.

The sprawling measure makes other major changes and would affect nearly every American business and household.
It would restructure a complicated system of deductions, shrinking some and expanding others. The standard
deduction, taken by many middle- and low-income households, would double, and a child tax credit would be
expanded. Other provisions taxpayers use to reduce their bills, including a deduction on interest paid on new home
mortgages and a provision allowing Americans to deduct what they pay in state and local taxes, would be shrunk.

Of the 12 Republicans who voted against the bill, 11 represent districts in New York, New Jersey or California. Those
states are expected to be hit hard by the bills reduction of the state and local tax deduction, which helps those in
high-tax states.

Many in my area could face higher taxes under this plan, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif), one of the no votes, said in a
statement before the vote. Californians have entrusted me to fight for them. I will not make the incredible tax
burden they already endure even worse.

Said Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY): This bill remains a geographic redistribution of wealth, taking extra money from a
place like New York to pay for deeper tax cuts elsewhere. New York is a net contributor that now will be contributing
even more.

The bill would also reduce the estate tax, a levy on inheritances paid only by the wealthiest estates. Under the bill, a
couple could pass on up to $22 million in assets without paying the tax.

And it would void an Affordable Care Act requirement requiring nearly all Americans to obtain some form of health
coverage or pay a penalty. The change is projected to reduce government spending by $300 billion over a decade but
also eventually leave 13 million more people with no health insurance.
The vote itself was chaotic, with a handful activists sitting in the public gallery repeatedly interrupting Republicans as
they introduced the tax measure. Several of them were escorted out by Capitol Police.

At one point, an activist yelled, You are lying to yourselves! and told House Republicans they needed to go back to
school to learn math, which elicited laughter among the Democrats on the floor.

A woman in a wheelchair chanted, Shame! shame! as she was removed from the gallery.

At another point, someone on the Republican side of the chamber shouted toward the activists, Throw her ass out!

Nearby sat Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and a handful of staff members, who also watched the proceedings
from the public gallery. The Republican caucus rose in near unanimous applause after the final vote was counted,
then went to congratulate Ryan and Brady with smiles and pats on the back.

Republicans have touted their bill as a middle-class tax cut and promised it would produce enough economic growth
to boost hiring and workers wages and would create enough revenue to keep it from adding to the deficit.

In an analysis of an earlier version of the bill, the Joint Committee on Taxation , Congresss official tax scorekeeper,
projected it would add $1 trillion to the deficit over a decade, even when projected economic growth is taken into
account. That figure would grow substantially if the individual tax cuts were extended, and Republicans predict they
will be.

The JCT projected that the earlier version of the plan would boost economic growth by 0.8 percent over a decade, far
lower than the 3 percent growth Republicans on Tuesday promised their plan would unlock.

We have not had a 3 percent economy since before the last recession, Ryan said before the vote. Tax reform will
get us a 3 percent economy.

Democrats unanimously oppose the plan but lack the votes to block it in either chamber. The sidelined minoritys
members have spent months bashing the plan as a giveaway to corporations and the wealthy.

Its disgusting smash-and-grab. Its an all-out looting of America, a wholesale robbery of the middle class, House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said after the vote. The GOP tax scam will go down, again, as one of the
worst, most scandalous acts of plutocracy in our history.

Polling suggests the public is broadly skeptical of the plan. A CNN poll released Tuesday found only 33 percent of
Americans support it, with 66 percent of the country believing it does more for the wealthy than the middle class.
But Ryan said he had no concerns whatsoever about the bills polling, arguing that public support would swing in
favor of the package once they see their after-tax incomes rise.

Results are going to make this popular, Ryan said.

Read more:

Will your taxes go up or down in 2018 under the new tax bill?

The Finance 202: The GOP tax plans lopsided numbers

Republicans say its a tax cut for the middle class. The biggest winners are the rich.

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Jeff Stein covers policy for Wonkblog " Follow @jstein_wonkblog