Some top Republicans are already sending mixed messages in their complaints about the Trump tax plan, even though the final version of the revenue reform measure has yet to be written.
The analytical website FiveThirtyEight is keeping track of the congressional mavericks and dividing them into three categories: Some fear the cuts will explode the deficit; some fear it will be temporary; and some fear the plan will actually increase taxes on some Americans who could lose tax deductions.
Republicans are "more divided so far on their push to change America's tax system — a bad sign for a party desperate for a big achievement in a year in which they control both houses of Congress and the presidency," the website wrote in a review of the GOP critics.
- Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, engaged in a bitter Twitter feud with President Donald Trump, and other establishment Republicans insist that the tax cuts not increase the federal budget deficit.
- House Speaker Paul Ryan wants a fundamental reform of the tax system but may have to settle for temporary tax cuts that expire in 10 years because of House rules.
- Rep. Peter King of New York and other Republicans from high-tax states are grumbling about the proposed elimination of state-tax deductions from federal taxes.
However, Grover Norquist, president of the influential Americans for Tax Reform, argues that the tax plan is good for all taxpayers.
"The biggest winners of tax reform will be the millions of Americans who enter or return to the job market when we unleash America's business investment through lower taxes, expensing and repatriation," he wrote.
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