WASHINGTON – The Latest on the Republican tax overhaul effort (all times local):
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12:01 p.m.
GOP lawmakers from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey have mixed opinions about a plan by House leaders to permit taxpayers to continue to be able to deduct property taxes but lose the deduction for state income taxes.
New York Rep. Peter King said the plan wouldn’t sway him to vote for the tax overhaul bill because the “income tax is a real big hit on New York.”
But New Jersey GOP Rep. Tom MacArthur is amenable to the idea, saying the loss of the deduction for state income tax is “probably is one of the prices of a compromise.”
The nettlesome issue is one of the major unresolved issues as House Republican leaders seek to wrangle support for the tax overhaul measure in hopes of a vote this month.
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11:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump is tweeting that Congress should repeal a key aspect of the Obama health care law and use the savings to help pay for tax cuts for the middle class.
Trump’s tweets about repealing the so-called individual mandate come as House Republicans are working out final details of the tax overhaul package in anticipation of public release on Thursday.
Trump’s push to use health care savings to pay for tax cuts ignore the fact that Republicans have failed on multiple attempts to repeal the health care law.
Trump has intensified his lobbying for the nearly $6 trillion tax overhaul plan. Republicans see taxes as a political imperative that will determine whether they keep their majorities in the House and Senate in next year’s elections.
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4:44 a.m.
House Republicans are struggling to complete work on a sweeping tax proposal, delaying its public release by a day. President Donald Trump has set an ambitious, by-Christmas timetable for passage of the legislation.
The GOP tax-writers strained to make last-minute changes to the proposed legislation, working Tuesday through the day and night to produce the first major overhaul of the U.S. tax system in three decades.
But they couldn’t finalize details in time for their Wednesday deadline for a public rollout, and so moved it to Thursday.
