For businesses, the legislation approved by Ways and Means would:

Increase the top corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 26.5 percent, while offering a lower rate to smaller businesses.
Extend tax rules on sales of equities to include cryptocurrencies and commodities for the first time.
Largely leave tax breaks for oil and gas companies untouched, in a move that angered environmental groups.
Boost taxes on overseas earnings for U.S.-based multinationals, by increasing a minimum levy enacted in 2017 during the Trump administration. It would also reduce an exemption for some of that income.
Reinstate a key debt-refinancing tool for state and local governments and create a Build America Bonds–style debt program.

For individuals, it would:

Restore the top marginal income tax rate to the 39.6 percent that preceded the 2017 GOP tax overhaul signed by President Donald Trump.
Impose a 3 percent surtax on incomes of more than $5 million.
Increase the capital gains rate from 20 percent to 25 percent for transactions made by high-income individuals after September 13, 2021.
Set new limits for large individual retirement accounts (IRAs).
Boost the net investment income tax, generating an estimated $252 billion.
End in 2022 Trump's doubling of the estate tax exemption.
Extend through 2025 the monthly child tax payments worth up to $3,600 per year, which Democrats enacted this year.

The bill on net is expected to raise $871 billion, after the value of the tax breaks are taken into account. Democrats say they will be able to pay for additional social spending in the so-called reconciliation package by counting some $600 billion in savings from Medicare spending on drugs, along with funds from increased tax enforcement and added revenue stemming from the faster economic growth that's anticipated as a result of the bill. The drug pricing proposal failed to pass another committee Wednesday because of opposition from Democratic moderates, raising questions about its viability.

Instant Insights /

House Panel Passes $2 Trillion in Tax Hikes

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