What's in the final version of the tax cut bill

December 16, 2017 at 3:59AM

• The final plan would lower the top tax rate from 39.6 to 37 percent for married couples earning over $470,700. That's a significant tax break for the very wealthy, The new tax break for millionaires goes beyond what was in the original House and Senate bills.

• Starting on Jan. 1, 2018, big businesses would see their tax rate fall from 35 percent to 21 percent, the largest one-time rate cut in U.S. history for the nation's largest companies. The House and Senate bills originally had the big-business tax rate falling to 20 percent. It's still roughly a $1 trillion tax cut for businesses over the next decade.

• You would be able to deduct just $10,000 in state, local and property taxes. Under current law, the state and local deduction is unlimited. In the final GOP plan, it was capped. The House initially restricted the $10,000 deduction to just property taxes, but the final bill would allow any state and local taxes to be deducted.

• Working-class families would get a bigger Child Tax Credit, thanks to a late push by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. The current Child Tax Credit is $1,000 per child. Both the House and Senate bills expanded the credit, with the Senate going up to $2,000 per child. The final bill keeps the $2,000 per child credit (families making up to $400,000 get the credit), but it also makes more of the tax credit refundable. Those benefits were initially limited to about $1,100, but would grow to $1,400.

• The estate tax (often called the "death tax" by opponents) remains, but far fewer families would have to pay it. Under current law, Americans can inherit up to $5.5 million tax-free; that threshold would double to $11 million. The House wanted to do away with the estate tax entirely.

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