US House of Representatives passes GOP tax reform bill

The United States House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to cut taxes on businesses and individuals as part of the Republicans effort to overhaul the American tax system.

The most sweeping tax overhaul in three decades that slashes corporate rates was approved with 227 votes in favour and 205 against.

No Democrats voted for the bill, while 13 Republicans broke ranks to oppose it, The Hill reported.

"Passing this bill is the single biggest thing we can do to grow the economy, to restore opportunity and help these middle-income families who are struggling," The Hill quoted Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), as saying, ahead of the vote.

Ahead of the House vote, Trump visited the Capitol to push GOP lawmakers to support the bill before the vote.

US President Donald Trump also hailed the efforts of Republicans in passing the bill in the lower chamber of the United States Congress.

"Congratulations to the House of Representatives for passing the #TaxCutsandJobsAct - a big step toward fulfilling our promise to deliver historic TAX CUTS for the American people by the end of the year!" Trump tweeted.

According to US media reports, the bill will reduce the number of individual tax brackets, slash the corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 20 per cent and eliminate a number of tax breaks and deductions.

The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated that the bill would lower federal revenues by about USD 1.4 trillion over 10 years.

The focus now shifts to the Senate, where Senate Republicans have their own tax bill, which is currently being considered by the chamber's tax-writing committee.

The full Senate is expected to vote on the bill after Thanksgiving.

Republican lawmakers must also find a way to bridge the big differences between the two bills, as the Senate legislation differs from the House's in a number of ways.

As per a report in The Hill, unlike the House bill, the Senate bill fully repeals the state and the local tax deduction, delays the corporate tax cut until 2019 and repeals ObamaCare's individual mandate.