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2025: The year of the tax fight
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2025: The year of the tax fight

One of the most important tasks facing the new president and Congress will be the possibility of overhauling the tax code in 2025.

The Republicans structured the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will expire at the start of the next president’s term. The bill was one of then-President Donald Trump’s signature pieces of legislation, and the expiration of these tax changes gives whoever is elected the opportunity to overhaul significant portions of the tax code.

THE legislation lowered the corporate tax rate to 21%, down from 35%. Additionally, the law allowed businesses to write off new investments, adjust tax brackets, and increase the child tax credit. He also cut the estate tax and offered tax deductions to business owners — two things that typically help wealthy taxpayers.

Whether – and how – tax policy will be changed will depend on the makeup of the White House and the makeup of Congress.

Vice President Harris and Trump have both proposed expanding parts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. A report from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that the law’s expansion would total $3 trillion under Harris’ plan and $5.4 trillion under Trump’s.

As NPR’s Luke Garrett reportedHarris proposes that Americans earning less than $400,000 a year will continue to benefit from the Trump-era tax cuts, but not those earning above that level. As for Trump, he said he wanted to “make the Trump tax cuts permanent.”

Copyright 2024 NPR