1st LD: U.S. House passes final Republican tax bill; Senate to vote next

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the final Republican bill to overhaul the U.S. tax system in three decades, which would slash income taxes for corporates and individuals while widening American budget deficit and income inequality.

The Republican-controlled House approved the legislation, called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, by a vote of 227-203, with all Democrats and 12 Republicans voting against it. Now the bill heads to the Senate, where lawmakers were due to have a final vote Tuesday evening.

While Republicans have a majority of 52 seats in the Senate, they can only afford to lose two votes of GOP senators to pass the tax bill without any support from Democrats.

The House and Senate Republicans had separately passed their own versions of tax bill several week ago, and they came to an agreement on resolving their differences in the tax bill last week.

The final tax legislation would keep the seven individual income tax brackets, while lowering the top individual income rate to 37 percent from the current 39.6 percent.

It would also cut the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from the current 35 percent and create a 20-percent deduction for income of pass-through businesses such as limited liability companies. Enditem