The House approved the measure, 224-201, passing it for the second time in two days after a procedural foul-up forced another vote on Wednesday. The Senate had passed it 51-48 in the early hours of Wednesday. "By cutting taxes and reforming the broken system, we are now pouring rocket fuel into the engine of our economy," Trump said in a statement after the vote. Trump, who had emphasised a tax cut for middle-class Americans during his 2016 campaign, said at the start of a Cabinet meeting before the vote that lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent was "probably the biggest factor in this plan."
Trump planned a tax-related celebration with US lawmakers at the White House in the afternoon but will not sign the legislation immediately. The timing of the signing was still up in the air. After Trump repeatedly urged Republicans to get it to him to sign before the end of the year, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said the timing of signing the bill depends on whether automatic spending cuts triggered by the legislation could be waived. If so, the president will sign it before the end of the year, he said.
In addition to cutting the U.S. corporate income tax rate to 21 percent, the debt-financed legislation gives other business owners a new 20 percent deduction on business income and reshapes how the government taxes multinational corporations along the lines the country's largest businesses have recommended for years.
Copyright Reuters, 2017