News Briefs- (11-11-2017)

Senate Republicans release their own version of tax plan

Senate Republicans released their own version of a tax plan Thursday, and it varies just enough from the House's bill to set the two chambers up for a dramatic showdown over tax policy in upcoming weeks. The Senate tax bill includes more individual tax brackets than the House bill (seven instead of four) as well as fully repeals the state and local tax deduction, which has become a must-save item for moderate Republicans in the House. The House bill repealed the deduction for state and local income and sales taxes, but preserved the property tax deduction up to $10,000 to assuage concerns from New York and New Jersey Republicans. But the differences don't end there. While the House bill eventually repealed the estate tax in its entirety, the Senate bill won't repeal the tax, but instead will double the exemption meaning fewer families will pay it.The Senate bill also maintains a provision to allow individuals to write off medical expenses that exceed a certain amount of their income, something the House bill scrapped entirely. The issue has become a major flashpoint in the debate in the House. North Dakota Republican Sen. John Hoeven acknowledged Thursday that watching the fights play out in the House helped inform the Senate bill. "Look, as we hear things from our constituents and analyze them, it's helped us," Hoeven said. Republican senators were briefed on their legislation Thursday morning, but an official plan and score of the Senate proposal wasn't released until Thursday evening. That plan also highlighted that while the Senate bill would reduce the corporate tax rate to 20%, the Senate will delay the implementation of the lower rate until after December 2018. The Senate plan came as the House voted Thursday afternoon along party lines to pass their own bill out of the ways and means committee. Most members emerging from the meeting said that the Senate bill was at the very least a step in the right direction.— CNN.

BIFFL wins NBR award

Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Limited (BIFFL) has been awarded as the Best Tax Payer in the Non-Banking Financial Institution category for 2017. Mr. M.A. Mannan,MP, the State Minister for the Finance and Planning Ministry, handed over the Crest and Tax Card to Mr. S.M. Formanul Islam, Executive Director and CEO of BIFFL on the occasion of'Kor Bahadur Poribar O Shera Kordata Shommanona-2017' at Sher-e- Bangla Nagar recently. Being established in 2011, BIFFL has been financing infrastructure and PPP projects to facilitate the infrastructure development in the country. It has already financed in power, economic zones, health and environment- friendly sectors. — Statement