Late Friday, the GOP released its final tax bill, which is expected to pass both chambers of Congress this week. Here’s what made it in—as previously noted: how it impacts your bottom line depends on how much you earn, how you earn it, where you live and the size of your family. To see a rough estimate of its impact, check out this Wall Street Journal tax plan calculator.
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Now that the Senate has passed big changes to the U.S. tax code, it may be worth considering a blasphemous question: Do corporations need a tax cut? The bill, which now must be reconciled with the House version, would permanently slash the corporate tax rate to 20 from 35 percent and temporarily lower individual taxes.
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Hurricane Harvey had a devastating catastrophic and life threatening impact across the Gulf and as the region prepares to clean up, analysts are worried that the economic effect could be devastating. The Texas Gulf Coast oil and gas industries are likely to see the first wave of problems. It is estimated that the region accounts for nearly a third of the nation's refinery capability. Given that many refineries had to close ahead of the storm, Americans could see gas prices spike by between 5-15 cents a gallon, especially in the South, Southeast and mid-Atlantic. Prior to the storm, the region enjoyed some of the lowest prices at the pump, ranging from about $2.10 to $2.21 per gallon, versus the national average of $2.36, according to AAA. Although the increase could be dramatic, it is likely to be brief.
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After suffering a stinging defeat on healthcare, what’s next for the Trump economic agenda? The first lesson for the new President is that despite holding a majority in both the House and the Senate, lawmaking is complicated and difficult. That said, because they failed to clear their first legislative hurdle, will Trump and Speaker Ryan be able to enact the next item on their to do list, tax reform, not to mention infrastructure spending?
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As the bull market in US stocks gets set to celebrate its eighth birthday this week, it is stunning to consider how far we have come. On March 9, 2009, here was the closing level of the three major indexes:
- Dow: 6547 – lowest level since April 15, 1997
- S&P 500: 676 – lowest level since Sept 12, 1996
- NASDAQ: 1268 – lowest level since Oct 9, 2002
On Tuesday night, the President will speak to a joint session of Congress, where he could finally outline details of a major overhaul to the personal and corporate tax system. Last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC that the administration is “primarily focused on a middle-income tax cut and simplification for business. And what we are focused is that on the high end, if there are tax cuts, that they are offset with reduction of deductions and other things.”
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