Thomson Reuters
- Income tax brackets will change in 2018 if tax legislation is passed under President Donald Trump.
- The Republican tax plan proposes keeping seven tax brackets, but changes the income ranges.
- The bill proposes eliminating the personal exemption and increasing the standard deduction.
Republican leaders on Wednesday reached an agreement on their final tax bill.
The official text of the bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, has not yet been released and would still need to be evaluated by congressional scorekeepers like the Joint Committee on Taxation.
But Republican leaders say they are aiming to hold a vote on the compromise bill on Monday and Tuesday. That could get the bill to Trump’s desk by Wednesday or Thursday of next week.
This new bill reportedly has some slight differences from the previous two proposals by the House and the Senate Republicans, including a change to the tax brackets. Now, the top individual bracket would drop to 37% instead of the 38.5% proposed in the Senate bill. It would still be down from the current 39.6%.
Business Insider put together two charts showing how this new tax plan could change federal income-tax brackets in 2018 compared with those in 2017.
First, for single filers:
And second, for joint filers:
Under the Republicans’ plan, there would still be seven federal income brackets but at slightly lower rates and adjusted income ranges. The brackets proposed are 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%.
About 70% of Americans claim the standard deduction when filing their taxes, and their paychecks will almost certainly increase — albeit slightly — if the tax plan passes.
In 2017, the standard deduction for a single taxpayer is $ 6,350, plus one personal exemption of $ 4,050.
The GOP proposal would combine those into one larger standard deduction for 2018: $ 12,000 for single filers and $ 24,000 for joint filers.
