INTERVIEW – STEVE MOORE – Heritage Foundation economist

• Republicans reach deal on tax bill. Senate and House Republicans have struck an “agreement in principle” on a sweeping tax-cut bill that if passed would be the first major piece of legislation signed by President Trump. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told reporters about noon Wednesday of the deal between Senate and House negotiators on taxes.
• CNN: Here’s what Republican negotiators as of Wednesday evening had in the plan:

    The corporate rate would be reduced to 21%, from 35%. That is an additional point added from the 20% originally proposed in the House and Senate versions. It would take effect in 2018.

The top individual tax rate would be set at 37%, down from the 39.6% proposed in the House and 38.5% in the Senate.

The State and Local Tax deduction will be expanded, beyond just property taxes, to include income tax. It would be capped at $10,000.

The corporate alternative minimum tax, included at the last minute in the Senate version, would be fully repealed.

The individual alternative minimum tax would remain, but the threshold would be tweaked to exclude any individual under $500,000 or family below $1 million.

The mortgage interest deduction threshold — dropped to $500,000 in the House and left untouched in the Senate — would be set at $750,000.

The rate for pass-through income — business entities like s-corporations and partnerships that pay taxes through the individual side — would be determined by a 20% deduction, 3% lower than the Senate version.

The estate tax exemption would be doubled, but the tax would not be repealed entirely, as it was in the House proposal.

The Obamacare individual mandate to have health insurance would be repealed.

A House provision that proposed taxing graduate school tuition is not included in the final deal.

These deductions will remain untouched (they were all repealed in the House bill, left alone in the Senate bill). Of note, repeal of these deductions were some of the most controversial elements of the House plan. None will be repealed in the final version.

Medical expense deduction

Tax-free graduate school tuition waivers

Private activity bonds

Student loan interest deduction

Teacher spending deduction