Revision of tax reform bill makes cuts less generous

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Friday made changes to their far-reaching tax overhaul.

A day after the GOP unveiled its plan promising middle-class relief, the House’s top tax-writer, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-texas, released a revised version of the bill that would impose a new, lower-inflation “chained CPI” adjustment for tax brackets immediately instead of in 2023.

That means more income would be taxed at higher rates over time — and less generous tax cuts for individuals and families.

The change, posted on the website of the House Ways and Means Committee, reduces the value of the tax cuts for ordinary Americans by $89 billion over 10 years compared with the legislation released with fanfare Thursday.

As wages rise, middle-class taxpayers would have more of their income taxed at the 25 percent rate instead of at 12 percent, for instance.

“The bill’s like a dead fish: The more it hangs out in the sunlight, the stinkier it gets,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pronounced after word of Brady’s change.

The change to the plan frees up money for Brady, the committee’s chairman, to use to address concerns by lawmakers when changing the bill further next week. The Ways and Means panel begins work on Monday. The final bill-writing process is expected to take four days.

Brady, in a statement Friday releasing the revised bill, stressed “pro-growth tax reform that will deliver more jobs, fairer taxes, and bigger paychecks for people across our country.”