2017: Fitzpatrick Voted For The House GOP's 2017 Tax Reform Plan Which
Significantly Cut Taxes For The Rich And Corporations And Repealed The
Alternative Minimum Tax. In November 2017, Fitzpatrick voted for
reconciliation legislation which significantly altered the federal tax
code. According to Congressional Quarterly, "The bill substantially
restructures the U.S. tax code to simplify the code and reduce taxes on
individuals, corporations and small businesses. For individuals, it
consolidates the current seven tax brackets down to four and eliminates
or restricts many tax credits and deductions, including by eliminating
the deduction for state and local income taxes and limiting the
deduction for property taxes to $10,000 and the interest deduction for
a home mortgage to the first $500,000 worth of a loan. [...] On the
business side, it reduces the corporate tax from 35% to 20% and
establishes a 'territorial' tax system that would exempt most income
derived overseas from U.S. corporate taxation. It allows businesses to
immediately expense 100% of the cost of assets acquired and placed into
service, and for small businesses it raises the Section 179 expensing
limit to $5 million for five years. It also establishes a 25% rate for
a portion of pass-through business income that would otherwise have to
be paid at the ordinary individual tax level, and for small businesses
where an individual would receive less than $150,000 in pass-through
income it taxes the first $75,000 of that income at a 9% rate." The
vote was on passage. The House passed the bill by a vote of 227 to 205.
President Trump later signed an amended version of the bill into law.
[House Vote 637,
11/16/17; Congressional
Quarterly, 11/15/17;
Congressional Actions, H.R.
1]
The Bill Repealed The AMT. According to the Washington Post,
"The mega-wealthy also would get to keep charitable deductions, a
popular way that lowers their tax bills, and they no longer would
have to pay the alternative minimum tax (AMT), a safeguard against
excessive tax dodging that's been in place since 1969."
[Washington Post,
11/16/17]
Repealing The AMT Could Save Trump $31 Million. According to
the New York Times, "The estimate of Mr. Trump's savings is based in
part on information from his 2005 federal tax return. The analysis
compares what his tax burden would be under current law with what it
would be under the proposal. [...] The decades-old alternative
minimum tax is meant to prevent America's wealthiest from using
deductions to pay very low or no federal income tax. In 2005, it
accounted for about 80 percent of Mr. Trump's overall income tax
payment. His plan to repeal the tax would save him $31.3 million."
[New York Times,
9/28/17]