The Latest: House about-face on deduction for adoption | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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The Latest: House about-face on deduction for adoption

WASHINGTON - The Latest on Republican tax overhaul legislation (all times local):

2:02 p.m.

House Republicans are restoring the adoption tax credit to their overhaul legislation after protests by family advocate groups and other interests.

The amendment to the legislation by Rep. Kevin Brady, chair of the House's tax-writing committee, proposes other complex changes to the bill nearing approval by the panel, including an array of business tax proposals which would in some cases further reduce tax rates.

The bill would steeply cut taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals, and double the standard deduction used by most average Americans. It retains its partial repeal of the federal deduction for state and local income and property taxes.

Brady's proposal comes as the Senate unveiled its version of the tax overhaul, keeping the current deduction for up to $1 million in interest paid on mortgages. The House bill reduces that to $500,000 for new home purchases.

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1:50 p.m.

The Senate's version of the GOP tax overhaul bill would leave a tax deduction for expenses associated with adopting children alone while providing a slightly larger per-child tax credit of $1,650 than the House measure.

Sen. John Hoeven also told reporters that the top tax rate for individuals, currently set at 39.6 per cent, would drop to 38.5 per cent under the draft Senate measure.

The South Dakota Republican said the measure also preserves existing clean energy tax incentives such as for electricity production from wind. It preserves a tax credit for electric cars as well.

The Senate bill also proposes seven tax brackets rather than the three brackets proposed under the House tax bill.

The House measure proposes increasing the per-child tax credit to $1,600 and making it available to a greater number of upper middle-class families.

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12:45 p.m.

The emerging Senate tax overhaul measure wouldn't touch the mortgage interest deduction, as a concession to the powerful real estate lobby.

That's according to a Senate GOP source familiar with the details on the legislation being released Thursday afternoon.

The move means homebuyers would still to be able to deduct interest payments on loans of up to $1 million as permitted under current law. The House bill would reduce the limit to $500,000.

The real estate industry warns that would hurt the housing market, especially in more affluent areas.

The measure also would delay a cut to in the corporate tax rate to 20 per cent until 2019.

The GOP source was not authorized to discuss the measure before it is public and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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3:29 a.m.

The Senate version of the Republicans' tax overhaul is set to be unveiled with billions in tax cuts for people and corporations, repeal of the federal deduction for state and local taxes, and a likely compression of the personal income tax brackets from seven to four.

The House measure, meanwhile, nears approval by the tax-writing committee after last-minute changes by its primary author.

The legislation pulling the attention of lawmakers in both chambers would bring the first major reshaping of the U.S. tax code in three decades.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch plans to take the wraps off the new Senate bill on Thursday. In the House, Ways and Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady was making changes before the panel votes Thursday to deliver it to the full House.

News from © The Associated Press, 2017
The Associated Press

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