Senate Republicans seek alternative plans for tax reform: Reports

Washington, March 13 (IANS) US Senate Republicans sought alternative plans to House Speaker Paul Ryan's tax reform package, which includes a controversial border adjustment tax that's facing lots of resistance in the upper chamber, a media report said on Sunday.

"Senators are laying the groundwork for a new direction, expecting the House plan will either fail or require substantial revisions," Xinhua quoted The Hill, a US political website, as saying.

The report added that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had pushed back the timeline of tax reform outlined by the Trump administration and given the Senate more time to seek alternative plans.

House Republicans, led by Ryan, had proposed eliminating the 35 per cent corporate income tax rate, and replacing it with the so-called border adjustment tax that would enact a 20 per cent rate on imported goods and materials, as a key part to overhaul the tax code.

Ryan argued that the border adjustment tax would be necessary to raise $1.2 trillion to lower individual and corporate income tax rates without adding to the federal deficit.

But a lot of Republicans in both chambers came out against such tax, citing the higher prices they would inflict on consumers.