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Article snippet: Some Senate Republicans are pushing for changes to the party’s tax-reform bill, fearing it will be portrayed as a handout to the rich that hurts the poor. A group of GOP lawmakers want to leave the lowest tax bracket where it is, rather than raising it from 10 percent to 12 percent. Some senators also support creating a fourth tax bracket to limit the size of the tax cut for millionaires. “The optics don’t look very good, taking 10 percent to 12. If you’re a 10 percent payer, you’re really going to zero [under the bill], but the optics are that it looks like you’re going from 10 to 12. The same thing with 39.6 going to 35,” said Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), referring to the joint framework released in September by senior administration officials and GOP leaders in Congress. Under the framework Republicans are using, the seven tax brackets now in the tax code — including the lowest 10 percent bracket and the highest 39.6 percent bracket — would be collapsed into three, taxing people at 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent, depending on their income levels. The Trump administration and the heads of the Senate and House tax-writing panels say low- and middle-income taxpayers would get a net tax cut because the plan would also double the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for couples. But Republican senators fear it will be difficult to explain to voters why they’re raising the tax rate for low- and middle-income Americans while cutting the tax... Link to the full article to read more