Skip to main content

For Trump, GOP tax bill could have big downside | TheHill

posted onNovember 27, 2017
>

Article snippet: The GOP tax plan that is speeding through Congress could deliver a much-needed win for the White House, but it could also kill one of Trump's other top priorities: legislation to rebuild U.S. infrastructure.  Not only would the tax overhaul use up one of the potential funding options for repairing infrastructure, it would also eliminate a financing tool that states have used to back a wide range of infrastructure projects.  That could spell doom for Trump’s infrastructure overhaul, which was always going to be a tough sell for fiscal conservatives on Capitol Hill. “Preemptively removing [private activity bonds] as a financing tool for infrastructure projects would undermine Congress's stated goal of leveraging a $1 trillion investment in our nation's infrastructure,” said Richard A. White, acting president and CEO of the American Public Transportation Association. “Instead, this provision would have a chilling effect on private sector investments in infrastructure projects.” The tax package that passed the House last week would eliminate the deduction on tax-exempt private activity bonds, which are used by public-private partnerships to help build roads, highways, housing, hospitals, airports and other critical projects.  Eliminating the program would save nearly $40 billion over a decade, according to a GOP summary sheet.  But transportation advocates worry ending the deduction will directly undercut Trump’s effort to revitalize the nation’s infrastructure.  The... Link to the full article to read more

Emotional score for this article