WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senate Republicans unveiled their highly anticipated tax reform bill on Thursday, with the proposed legislation including several key differences with the House version.
The notable differences between the bills include a delay in the implementation of the cut in the corporate tax rate.
The Senate bill still reduces the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, although the new rate does not take effect until 2019. The House bill would start the 20 percent rate next year.
The delay of the corporate tax cut in the Senate bill reflects an effort by Senators to partly offset the cost of the legislation.
In a move likely to anger some members of Congress, the Senate version also completely repeals state and local tax deductions.
The House bill would still allow people to write off the cost of state and local property taxes in an effort to win over members from high-tax states such as New York and California.
Meanwhile, the Senate plan keeps the mortgage interest deduction capped at $1 million, while the House version cut the cap for newly purchased homes in half to $500,000.
The estate tax is also kept in place in the Senate bill compared to the House plan to double the exemption from the tax before it is repealed after six years.
The Senate bill also maintains seven tax brackets versus the four in the House bill, although the top rate is lowered to 38.5 percent from 39.6 percent.
House and Senate Republicans may face some difficulty in working out the differences in the two bills, potentially affecting the GOP's ability to accomplish tax reform.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX