- House Republican leaders are delaying the rollout of their massive tax reform bill until Thursday.
- The bill was originally scheduled for release on Wednesday, but tax writers still have not made decisions on key issues.
- This is the first substantive delay for the GOP, which is pushing an aggressive timeline to pass legislation.
House GOP leaders are pushing back the release of their massive tax reform bill until Thursday due to unresolved decisions on key issues, multiple reports said Tuesday.
Rep. Kevin Brady, the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and chief tax writer, planned to roll out the bill on Wednesday in order to try and get the bill passed through the House before the week-long Thanksgiving break.
According to the reports, GOP tax writers are still trying to hash out various details in the plan, including possible changes to 401(k) retirement accounts and the income level at which the top marginal tax rate will kick in.
This would be the first substantial delay for Republican leaders, who are trying to get the tax bill to President Donald Trump’s desk by Christmas.
It should not seriously throw the bill’s timeline off track, as a markup of the bill in the Ways and Means Committee is still scheduled for Monday.
There are still substantial issues to be worked out, according to reports, mostly centered around pay-fors to offset the massive tax cuts in the plan.
For instance, a proposed top marginal tax rate of 39.6% is set to be included in the bill, but whether it will apply to people making more than $750,000 annually or $1 million is not nailed down.
Another issue still to be worked out is changes to 401(k) retirement savings plans, which have been the subject of a back and forth between the White House and the House GOP over the past week. Trump tweeted that there would be “NO changes to your 401k” after reports circulated that Republicans were considering a cap on how much could be contributed to traditional, tax-deferred accounts.
A representative for Brady didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
As reported by Business Insider