Susan Ferrechio of the Washington Examiner explains that Republicans in the U.S. House are working to restore popular tax breaks in their reform package.
House Republican lawmakers this week were working to reshape their party’s tax reform plan to reduce the pain of ending some of the most popular tax deductions before a planned vote on the bill next week.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, is “listening” to Republican lawmakers who are asking for a wide variety of changes, but he has told lawmakers that any move to save a deduction from elimination must be paid for somehow in the bill. …
… [M]any Republican lawmakers were looking for ways to save some of the deductions that the bill would eliminate. Rep. Chris Smith, for example, is asking GOP leaders to add back in the $13,500 deduction for people who adopt children — he helped make the deduction part of the tax law back in the 1990s. …
… Rep. Tom MacArthur, who also represents New Jersey, is working to convince Brady to raise the deduction for mortgage interest, which the GOP tax plan slashed from $1,000,000 to $500,000. …
… A group of GOP lawmakers is also hoping to reinstall the deduction for state and local taxes, which was removed from the bill.
Others want to raise the property tax deduction, which was capped at $10,000.
