Tax planning

A push by some Republican senators to ward off future deficits by tucking a potential corporate tax increase into their tax-overhaul bill would set up a kind of economic booby trap—putting the GOP’s much-desired growth at risk, according to a half-dozen economists, lobbyists and tax experts.

The tax reform bills passed by the House, and soon to be passed by the Senate, have many similarities. And you can count on measures that are the same in both bills to end up in the final version to be signed by the President.

In the rush to borrow before the Republican tax bill reshapes the debt market, states and municipalities are paying up. The biggest spree of debt issuance in more than a decade has pushed up borrowing costs and eroded returns in the $3.8 trillion municipal-debt market.

Some Republican senators hate that they’re about to vote for a bill that cuts individual tax rates before raising them back in a few years.

When U.S. Senate lawmakers changed just two letters used for a calculation in their proposed tax bill, they may have increased the number of junk-rated companies that would be hurt by tax overhaul.

The Senate tax bill is headed for a marathon debate this week after Republican leaders brought the measure to the floor Wednesday with the goal of holding a final vote by the end of the week. Here are the latest developments, updated throughout the day.

President Donald Trump is pitching the Republican tax-cut plan as aimed primarily at helping middle-class Americans, but the biggest beneficiaries of cuts in the individual tax rates are in the wealthiest income brackets.

Major companies including Cisco Systems Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. say they’ll turn over most gains from proposed corporate tax cuts to their shareholders, undercutting President Donald Trump’s promise that his plan will create jobs and boost wages for the middle class.

Senate Republicans are discussing adding provisions to their tax bill that could trigger up to $350 billion in automatic tax increases over 10 years beginning in 2022, according to two people briefed by congressional staff members on the plan.

The outlook for Republicans to deliver a U.S. tax overhaul by the end of the year brightened Tuesday after President Donald Trump addressed GOP Senate holdouts in a closed-door, lunchtime session.