After a week of marking up its tax reform plan, the Senate Finance Committee passed the bill, sending it to the full Senate to vote on.
“From the outset of this process, we sought to craft a strong pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-family tax overhaul that will move America forward and modernize our nation’s tax system to meet the challenges and opportunities of today,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said. “After months of hard work and nearly a week of robust deliberation on the merits of this legislation, the Senate Finance Committee acted tonight to advance the most comprehensive tax reform bill in a generation. This is a historic moment and one we should all be proud of.”
The Senate’s bill will keep the current mortgage interest deduction cap at $1 million, however has drawn fire from the housing industry for doubling the standard deduction, which some housing experts say could make the mortgage interest deduction less attractive.
This is a change for the House tax reform bill, which would slash the MID in half to just $500,000. The House passed its tax reform bill Thursday, sending it to the Senate.
“Though NAHB believes the Senate tax legislation is better for the housing sector, like the House, it fails to provide a meaningful incentive for homeownership for the middle class,” said Granger MacDonald, National Association of Home Builders chairman.
“We will continue to work with Congress on tax policy and other areas to ensure that housing and homeownership remain a national priority,” MacDonald said. “Enacting meaningful tax reform that will help the middle class and small businesses is vital to keep the housing market moving forward and to create job and economic growth.”
Now, the Senate committee passed its own version of tax reform, and plans on moving to a full Senate vote after the Thanksgiving Holiday.
“By nearly doubling the standard deduction, lowering tax rates, and doubling the child tax credit, we have made good on our promise to deliver a bill that will improve the lives of average Americans who have been hit by nearly a decade of sluggish economic growth,” Hatch said. “Bringing our outdated tax structure into the 21st century will help level the playing field for businesses – both small and large – and ensure we can keep more jobs and more investment here at home.”
President Donald Trump congratulated the House on passing its tax reform bill, telling the Senate he would like to see the bill on his desk by the end of the year. However, there has been no word yet on from the Senate on if its plans to vote on the House’s bill.
Congratulations to the House of Representatives for passing the #TaxCutsandJobsAct — a big step toward fulfilling our promise to deliver historic TAX CUTS for the American people by the end of the year! https://t.co/8FjefMj6hh
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2017
