Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Explainer: What you should know about the GOP tax plan
Explainer: What you should know about the GOP tax plan
Oct 30, 2025 2:09 AM

Earlier today, Congressional Republicans introduced the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the House version of their long-promised tax reform legislation. Here is what you should know about the bill:

How does the plan affect individual taxpayers?

The legislation proposes the following changes:

• Increases the standard deduction from $6,350 to $12,000 for single filers and from $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples.

• Creates a larger “zero tax bracket” by eliminating taxes on the first $24,000 of e.

• Reduces the 7 tax brackets (10, 15, 25, 28, 33, 35, and 39.6 percent) to 4 tax brackets of 12 percent (up to $90,000), 25 percent ($90,000 to $260,000), and 35 percent ($260,000 to $1,000,000) , and 39.6 percent ($1,000,000 and above).

• Increases the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $1,600.

• Retains the Earned e Tax Credit (EITC), but eliminates other tax credits such as the tax credit to offset expenses related to adoption.

• Provides a non-refundable credit of $300 for non-child dependents to help defray the cost of caring for other dependents (this credit would expire after 5 years).

• Repeals the existing individual Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

• Eliminates most itemized deductions (except those listed below).

• Eliminates the personal exemption (currently $4,050 per person).

• Retains deduction for state and local property taxes up to $10,000.

• Retains deduction for charitable contributions.

• Retains home mortgage interest for existing mortgages and maintains the deduction for newly purchased homes up to $500,000.

• Retains current 401(k) and IRA provisions

• Repeals the “death tax”, the federal estate tax which applies to the transfer of property at death on estates worth $5,490,000 or more.

How does the plan affect individual businesses?

The legislation proposes the following changes:

• Limits the maximum tax rate applied to the business e of small and family-owned businesses conducted as sole proprietorships, partnerships and S corporations to 25 percent from 39.5 percent.

• Reduces the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent.

• Eliminates the existing corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

• Allows businesses to immediately write off (or “expense”) the cost of new investments in depreciable assets other than structures made after September 27, 2017, for at least five years.

• Preserves business credits for research and development (R&D) and e housing.

• Limits the debt that can be deducted to 30 percent of earnings before interest/taxes/depreciation/amortization (EBITDA).

• In an effort to bring overseas corporate profits back into the U.S., all overseas assets from panies will be considered repatriated and taxed at a one-time lower rate of 20 percent.

• Moves to a territorial tax system that no longer imposes the U.S. corporate tax on foreign profits of panies, though untaxed e currently held overseas will immediately be taxed at a fixed rate: 12 percent for money held in liquid assets like stocks and bonds, 5 percent for intangibles like buildings and factories.

How does this plan differ from the proposal outlined by President Trump during the campaign?

The new plan includes five items that Trumppromised on the campaign trail: reducing the tax brackets, increasing the standard deduction, reducing business tax (though he promised a reduction to 15 percent), and eliminating the AMT and estate tax.

However, Trump’s campaign plan promised to be “revenue neutral” (i.e., would not increase the deficit), a claim which few economists outside of the White House believes is possible.

What happens next?

The bill has to be “scored” by the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation to determine the effect on the deficit. Senate rules require that any legislation that increases the deficit in the long term must be passed with 60 votes. Because this bill would likely increase the deficit by more than a trillion dollars over the next decade, it cannot pass the Senate without support from Democrats—which it cannot get. That means that to pass the Senate the legislation will have to be substantially revised.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Explainer: Supreme Court Blocks Obama’s Efforts to Regulate Coal Emissions
What just happened? On Tuesday the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Obama administration’s effort to regulate emissions from coal-fired power plants. The vote was 5-to-4, with the court’s four liberal members dissenting, to put a temporary halt on the implementation of anEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule change. Why is this significant? As the New York Times notes, the Supreme Court had never before granted a request to halt a regulation before review by a federal appeals court: “It’s a stunning...
Shareholder Activists Step-Up Leftist Resolutions for 2016
Previously this week, The Wall Street Journal presented a list of “7 Things Investors Should Be Watching for a 2016 Unfolds.” While there’s much in Michael A. Pollock’s article to mend it to readers who might’ve missed it, there’s also one significant omission – Number Eight, if you will: A Rise in Proxy Resolutions by Religious Shareholder Activists. Shortly after reading the WSJ article, your writer received an email from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, the “corporate God-flies” who...
5 Things You Should Know About Washington’s Birthday
Today is the U.S. federal holiday known as Washington’s Birthday (not “Presidents Day—see item #1). In honor of George Washington’s birthday, here are 5 things you should know about the day set aside for our America’s premier founding father. 1. Although some state and local governments and private businesses refer to today as President’s Day, the legal public holiday is designated as “Washington’s Birthday” in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code. The observance of Washington’s birthday...
Determinism, Dependency, and the Irreducible Person
“Sociological determinism informs our public policy,” says Ismael Hernandez in this week’s Acton Commentary. “Those with a stake in the maintenance and expansion of government bureaucracies feed upon pathology and find a willing constituency among those who perceive the world in terms of victims and perpetrators.” If men are not free, they are not responsible for their misdeeds and ought instead to be treated with pity for falling prey to tragic misfortunes. They are to be healed by those who...
Explainer: The Historic Meeting Between the Pope and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch
What’s going on? Tomorrow, for the first time in history, a Roman Catholic pontiff and the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet face to face. According to the joint press release of the Holy See and of the Patriarchate of Moscow: The Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow are pleased to announce that, by the grace of God, His Holiness Pope Francis and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will meet on February 12....
I, Rose: Networks of exchange and the love they deserve
In Leonard Reed’s famous essay,“I, Pencil,”he marvels over the cooperation and collaboration involved in the assemblyof a simple pencil — plex coordination that is quite miraculouslyuncoordinated. In a short video from economist Alex Tabarrok, the same lesson is applied to Valentine’s Day roses: “Behind every Valentine’s Day rose, there’s an extensive network of people from all over the world,” says Tabarrok, “from the farmer to the shipper to the auctioneer to the retailer—all cooperating to produce and transport roses from...
5 Facts About Justice Antonin Scalia (1936-2016)
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died at the age of 79. He reportedly died in his sleep during a visit to Texas. Here are five facts you should know about one of the leading conservative voices on the nation’s highest court: 1.Antonin Scalia (nicknamed “Nino”) was born on March 11, 1936, in Trenton, N.J. He attended Xavier High School in Manhattan, a military school run by the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church, and studied History at Georgetown...
Antonin Scalia: True Friend of the Constitution
Antonin ScaliaOne of the many great things about living in Europe is getting the chance to meet famous Americans visiting the Old Continent. They tend to be more relaxed and accessible than they ever would be in the United States, which means you may actually manage to have a pleasant conversation with them without others trying to jostle their way between you. It’s an even bigger thrill when you talk with someone you truly admire, which was certainly the case...
Is Donald Trump a mercantilist?
Being “pro business” doesn’t necessarily mean “pro free markets.” Reality TV star and wannabe Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump reminds us of this. Writing for The Stream, Acton’s Director of Research, Samuel Gregg, argues that not only does Trump seem to be a mercantilist, but, if implemented, this medieval economic system would weaken the United States. What exactly is mercantilism? This system was popular between the 1500s and 1700s and was particularly good to government officials and their allies in...
Private Schools for the Poor
One of the popular targets of foreign aid is education, and understandably so.Yet as with most solutions sprouting from Western planners anddo-gooders, the reality on the ground is a bit different than we typicallyimagine.Likewise, the solutions are often closer than we’re led to believe. In his book, The Beautiful Tree, James Tooley chronicles his own investigative journey throughout the developing world, seekingto uncover the local realities of educational opportunity. missionedby the World Bank to investigate private schools in adozen developing...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved