Comparing the Latest House and Senate Tax Bills by Provision

In broad fiscal terms, the House and Senate tax bills are very similar. Both plans would cost more than $1.4 trillion over ten years on paper while hiding potentially hundreds of billions in gimmicks. However, the two plans differ in where the costs come from. On net, the House plan includes $1.1 trillion of business tax cuts, $200 billion of individual tax cuts, and $151 billion from estate tax repeal. The Senate version, meanwhile, has $900 billion of individual tax cuts, $700 billion of business tax cuts, $83 billion from estate tax cuts, and $318 billion of savings from repealing the individual mandate. The plans also differ on details, in particular the Senate's sunsetting of almost all individual tax provisions after 2025.

To see how the tax plans stack up, we've updated our comparison of how much each of the provisions in each plan costs or saves. Differences are especially noticeable in the gross individual tax increases and the Senate's decision to repeal the individual mandate. But the bottom lines, both with and without gimmicks, are very similar.

Policy Senate House
Individual Tax Cuts  
Reduce and/or consolidate individual income tax rates $1.2 trillion $1.1 trillion
Roughly double the standard deduction $737 billion $921 billion
Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) $769 billion $696 billion
Increase the child tax credit and/or create dependent tax credit $584 billion $641 billion
Other tax cuts $2 billion $0 billion
Subtotal, Individual Tax Cuts $3.3 trillion $3.3 trillion
     
Individual Tax Increases  
Repeal personal exemptions -$1.2 trillion -$1.6 trillion
Reform itemized deductions -$1 trillion -$1.3 trillion
Use chained CPI to index tax provisions -$134 billion -$128 billion
Reform higher education tax benefits N/A -$65 billion
Eliminate certain exclusions -$6 billion -$36 billion
Require Social Security number to obtain child tax credit -$24 billion -$42 billion
Other provisions -$8 billion -$15 billion
Subtotal, Individual Tax Increases -$2.4 trillion -$3.1 trillion
     
Business Tax Cuts  
Reduce corporate tax rate to 20% and repeal corporate AMT $1.4 trillion $1.5 trillion
Reduce taxes for pass-through businesses $362 billion $597 billion
Move to territorial system for foreign taxation $216 billion $207 billion
Reform taxation of intangible property $99 billion N/A
Move to full expensing of investments for five years $74 billion $25 billion
Increase small business write-offs $52 billion $41 billion
Other provisions $34 billion $29 billion
Subtotal, Business Tax Cuts $2.2 trillion $2.4 trillion
     
Business Tax Increases  
Reduce limit on interest expense deductions -$308 billion -$172 billion
Enact base erosion or other revenue-raising provisions for foreign taxation -$303 billion -$209 billion
Enact one-time tax on overseas earnings -$185 billion -$293 billion
Limit carryover of net operating losses -$158 billion -$156 billion
Limit pass-through losses to $250K/$500K -$137 billion N/A
Eliminate domestic production activities deduction -$81 billion -$95 billion
Eliminate R&E expensing with delay -$62 billion -$109 billion
Limit deductions for meals, entertainment, and transportation -$40 billion -$34 billion
Reform tax treatment of banks and financial instruments -$34 billion -$71 billion
Limit deferral of gain on like-kind exchanges to real property -$31 billion -$31 billion
Modify orphan drug tax credit -$30 billion -$54 billion
Reform tax treatment of insurance companies -$27 billion -$40 billion
Reform tax treatment of executive compensation -$11 billion -$13 billion
Other changes -$47 billion -$50 billion
Subtotal, Business Tax Increases -$1.5 trillion -$1.3 trillion
     
Reduce and/or Repeal Estate Tax $83 billion $151 billion
     
Eliminate Individual Mandate -$318 billion N/A
     
Total $1.4 trillion $1.4 trillion
     
Extend business expensing $115 billion $175 billion
Delay R&E amortization $60 billion $110 billion
Extend individual tax provisions beyond expiration $240 billion $225 billion
Other gimmicks $105 billion N/A
Cost Without Gimmicks $1.9 trillion $1.9 trillion

Sources: Joint Committee on Taxation and CRFB calculations.

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