GOP scrambles for plan B tax increase after floor drama over Senate tax bill

(Worthy News) – Senate Republicans are considering a tax increase as a plan B to raise revenue to get their party’s deficit hawks to support their tax bill, Republican Whip John Cornyn said Thursday evening, as the “debt trigger” idea the party had been working on ran afoul of Senate rules.

“It doesn’t look like the trigger is going to work, according to the parliamentarian, so we have an alternative, frankly a tax increase we don’t want to do, to try to address” the concerns of deficit hawks, Cornyn told reporters at the Capitol after a surprisingly tense procedural vote that saw Republicans hold an animated group discussion on the Senate floor.

Republicans hadn’t yet settled on the alternative. Cornyn said that one possibility was a “stairstep” in the 20 percent corporate tax rate, with it scheduled to rise a half a percentage point after six years. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said that Republicans are also discussing an increase in taxes akin to an alternative minimum tax that would automatically kick in after a period of years, falling most likely on corporations and high-income earners. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]