Senate to delay corporate tax cut, breaking with Trump and House

Senate Republicans plan to propose delaying a cut in the corporate tax rate until 2019, according to a GOP senator.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) also said the individual mandate will not be repealed as part of the Senate tax overhaul proposal expected to be released Thursday. 

The proposal breaks with President Trump’s preference that a corporate tax cut be put in place immediately. The House’s tax-reform legislation proposes lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent in 2018.

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Other big changes from the House version include adding back in a deduction for medical expenses and a full repeal of state and local tax deductions.

Republicans are seeking to get a bill to President Trump’s desk by Christmas. 

A House panel could report its version out of committee on Thursday, and that measure could get a vote in the full chamber next week. 

The GOP-written legislation is not likely to win over any Democrats, who blast it as a giveaway to the rich and object to cutbacks in breaks used by the middle class. Republicans say their standard deduction increase and tax rate cuts will make up the difference.

This story has been updated.