The final measure passed with 227 yes votes and 203 no votes. Two House members did not vote.
No Democrats voted for the tax bill, but the Republican majority in the chamber allowed the legislation, which some are calling the most impactful tax policy change since the 1980s, to squeak through. A dozen Republicans voted against the tax bill.
"Stocks and the economy have a long way to go after the Tax Cut Bill is totally understood and appreciated in scope and size," US President Donald Trump said via Twitter Tuesday morning.
Critics maintain that the tax bill disproportionately cuts taxes for the wealthy. Since the bill was slapped together in such a short period of time, with minimal public commentary or time for stakeholders to appear before Congress in hearings, most analyses have been incomplete. Detractors have also blasted the process by which the bill was passed, saying that closed-door additions of lobbyist-driven provisions was undemocratic and received insufficient public scrutiny.
According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’ official forecaster for tax legislation, the House tax bill provides relief “overwhelmingly skewed” toward filers earning $500,000 a year or more.
Meanwhile, an International Business Times report published Monday found that more than 25 percent of Republican senators stand to personally benefit from a special provision that cuts taxes for real estate shell corporations.
“Fourteen Republican senators hold financial interests in 26 income-generating real-estate partnerships – worth as much as $105 million in total. Those holdings produced between $2.4 million and $14.1 million in rent and interest income earned in 2016,” the IBT reported, citing federal records.
Trump and his family also stand to benefit substantially from big new tax cuts on real estate limited liability corporations.
If, and perhaps when, the Senate passes the bill, Trump will have "delivered the most significant tax cut in the history of the nation," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday.
