WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday were considering a starkly different approach to overhauling the tax code than their House colleagues, weighing a delay in the implementation of a major corporate tax cut and other measures to alter the cost and impact of the plan.
Senate leaders were exploring postponing the centerpiece of the effort – an $845 billion corporate tax cut – until 2019, according to four people familiar with a draft of the legislation. The move would make it easier to comply with Senate rules that aim to limit any legislation’s impact on the debt.
At the same time, Republican senators were planning to eliminate the state and local tax deduction, going further than the House, which retained part of the popular tax break, said people familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive deliberations. Senators also were debating how to ensure fewer of the plans’ benefits flow to the wealthy and more flow to the middle class.
No decisions have been made, the people familiar with the negotiations said, but Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is expected to reveal his proposal Thursday. Hatch said Tuesday that his goal was to make the corporate rate cut immediate but that it was still being discussed.
“I hope we can get there, that’s for sure,” Hatch said.
The approach sets up a potential collision with House Republicans and the White House, which wants signed legislation by year’s end. The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to approve its version of the tax bill Thursday and hold a vote in the full House next week.
The House and Senate must pass identical tax bills before President Trump can sign legislation, but Senate Republicans are confronted with much different challenges than their House colleagues.
Senate Republicans face acute concerns from some members, including retiring Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., that the tax plan will add to the debt.
The House Republicans’ bill proposed slashing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent beginning in 2018, and the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that this change would lead to a drop in federal revenue of $108 billion in the first year. Altogether, the tax bill is expected to add $1.5 trillion to the debt over a decade.
Senate rules allow legislation to pass with fewer than 60 votes only if it doesn’t add to the deficit after 10 years; Republicans hold 52 seats in the Senate and are not expected to pick up Democratic votes. Republican leaders argue that their tax bill would prompt economic growth, creating more tax revenue, but many forecasters are skeptical of anything beyond a modest impact.
Republicans said that if they cannot find a way to limit the budget impact of the tax plan, they may be forced to make it temporary.
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