US House Republicans delay release of tax bill

Washington, Nov 1 (IANS) House Republicans have decided to delay the release of the bill that would overhaul the US tax code until Thursday, a Republican lawmaker said.

"Ways and Means Committee Members met tonight to discuss the work we are doing on pro-growth tax reform. In consultation with President Trump and our leadership team, we have decided to release the bill text on Thursday," Xinhua quoted the committee's chairman, Kevin Brady, as saying in a statement on Tuesday night.

The committee had planned to release the tax bill on Wednesday. The delay revealed the difficulties Republicans had in resolving how to raise enough money to pay for the massive corporate tax cuts, said analysts.

The unified framework for tax reform that the Donald Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders released last month had called for slashing corporate tax rates to 20 per cent from the current 35 per cent.

According to estimates from the Tax Foundation, a Washington policy group, the corporate tax cut would cost 1.6 trillion USD over a decade.

The Republican leaders are exploring measures to limit the tax bill's net revenue loss to 1.5 trillion dollars in a decade to satisfy the parameters of the budget resolution that the House and Senate have approved.

During a meeting with industry leaders at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said that he wanted to sign a tax bill by Christmas, setting an ambitious timetable for the Republican-controlled Congress.

"I want the House to pass a bill by Thanksgiving. I want all the people standing by my side when we sign by Christmas."

Trump and Republican leaders are under pressure to deliver a major legislative victory on tax reform before next year's Congressional mid-term elections, as they have failed to pass a bill to repeal and replace the controversial Obamacare earlier in the year.