The United State Senate has passed one of the biggest overhauls of the tax code in a generation, impacting the way Americans will spend and earn money for the foreseeable future.
The Senate voted passing the $1.5 trillion dollar bill 51 to 49 in a dramatic late night vote on Friday night.
The bill passed in the Senate is not the final version. The House passed a version of its own and has big differences including the elimination of the health insurance mandate penalties, as well as the number of tax brackets. The two bills will need to be reconciled before it heads for President Trump's desk for his signature.
The 500-page bill was being worked on right up until the vote - including handwritten notes in the margins and entire sections crossed out. Democrats complained that Republicans didn't circulate the bill until only a few hours before the vote and didn't give them a chance to review it.
The largest tax cuts will go to reducing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) says that will cost $1.4 trillion dollars over ten years. Republicans have said the tax break would be paid for by increased economic activity, but that claim was debunked this week by the JCT's analysis of the tax plan.
The proposed cost of the revised Senate tax reform bill will be $1.47 trillion according to the latest report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. There's no evidence that growth will make up that figure according to the CBO's score.
Individual income taxes would also be affected as the Senate plan makes broad cuts across income levels. Most of those tax cuts will expire after 2025 unless Congress extends them.
According to the JCT, every income group under $75,000 would see tax increases by 2027.
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