US House Approves Tax-cut Bill of 550 Billion Dollars

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, May 10, 2003

US House Approves Tax-cut Bill of 550 Billion Dollars

US House of Representatives passed a tax-cut bill of 550 billion US dollars Friday, a bill which gained a fresh endorsement from the Bush administration.

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US House of Representatives passed a tax-cut bill of 550 billion US dollars Friday, a bill which gained a fresh endorsement from the Bush administration.

The bill, which would reduce taxes by 550 billion dollars till 2013, would lower income tax rates and levies on capital gains andsmall business investments, according to a local media report.

Instead of eliminating the taxes shareholders' pay on most corporate dividends as President Bush has proposed, it would lowerthe taxes on such payments from a current high rate of 38.6 percent to 15 percent.

The Bush administration had stressed the need of a complete elimination of the tax on dividends, saying it is "double taxation" and "unfair."

But the passage of Friday's tax-cut bill was actually not an easy outcome. Bush's bold tax-cut plan has been heatedly debated at Congress. And the tax-cut plan of 550 billion dollars is a scaled-down version from the original plan of 726 billion dollars.

In a statement, the White House budget office called the legislation "a strong and positive step forward that will help theeconomy."

It said the administration "will continue to work with the Congress in crafting a final bill that best embodies the objectives and priorities of the president's plan."

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