Inman

Deal reached on tax reform

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The New York Times reports today that Republican leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives have reached an agreement on a unified tax reform bill and plan to vote on the bill next week before Congress recesses for the holidays.

President Trump also gave a speech on tax reform, one of his signature agenda items for the year, from the White House. Trump said that if Congress sends him a bill to sign before Christmas, “Americans will see lower taxes beginning in February, just two short months from now,” citing an estimate from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as Fox News reported.

There were matters of enormous contention for real estate in the bills that passed the House and Senate — including proposals making the capital gains exclusion tax more difficult and removing state and local tax deductions (SALT). Fortunately, The Times reports that SALT will stay up to $10,000:

The agreement drops the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from the current 35 percent rate and will go into effect in 2018, rather than 2019, as the Senate bill originally called for, according to a senior Republican congressional aide. The bill also allows individuals to deduct up to $10,000 in state and local taxes, split between property taxes and either income or sales taxes paid. That move is intended to alleviate the concerns of House Republicans, particularly those from California, over the bill’s treatment of the state and local tax deduction.

CNN published an article on Wednesday night elaborating other details of the compromise bill:

The entire industry will be closely watching the final bill and its vote. (It’s likely to easily pass the GOP-majority Congress).

More as we get it.

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Email Carl Franzen.