Ryan, House Republicans to unveil tax
reform plan
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[June 24, 2016]
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of
Representatives Republicans want to lower the top individual income tax
rate to 33 percent and slash the corporate tax rate, according to a
blueprint released on Friday as an agenda for this year's re-election
campaign.
The tax reform plan, to be officially unveiled on Friday morning
at the U.S. Capitol, is the sixth and final plank of a conservative
policy agenda being rolled out by House Speaker Paul Ryan in an
effort to unify Republicans after a divisive primary campaign.
Ryan, the country's highest-ranking elected Republican, has
described the agenda as a way to offer voters a coherent policy
message across key legislative areas for 2017. He has already
released segments on poverty, national security, regulation,
constitutional authority and healthcare.
Aides describe these issue areas as common ground between Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump and Ryan, who withheld his
endorsement of the billionaire businessman until recently.
But Trump's ideas about taxes have appeared contradictory at times.
Trump said in May that he is open to raising taxes on the rich,
backing off his prior proposals to reduce taxes on all Americans and
breaking with Republican presidential nominees who have staunchly
opposed tax hikes for almost three decades.
Democrats, including presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, have
pressed for increased taxes on the wealthiest Americans for years.
The House of Representatives Republican tax reform plan would
consolidate the current seven tax brackets for individuals to three
brackets, and lower the top individual income tax rate to 33 percent
from 39.6 percent.
The plan would also create a new business tax rate for small
businesses that are organized as sole proprietorships, meaning that
small business income would no longer be subject to the top
individual tax rate. This would lead to a maximum tax rate of 25
percent on small business income, the blueprint said.
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House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) speaks about the House Democrats'
sit-in over gun-control laws, during a news conference on Capitol
Hill in Washington, U.S., June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
And the plan would lower the top U.S. corporate tax rate from 35
percent, the highest in the industrialized world, to 20 percent, as
well as shift to a "territorial" style tax system aimed at exempting
the earnings of American companies abroad from U.S. taxation.
Washington has not been able to summon the political will to reform
the loophole-riddled tax code for nearly three decades. Overhauling
the tax code has long been a goal of Ryan. He was considered the
Republican party's leading voice on taxes and budgets before he
ascended to the job of speaker last year.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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