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"This $12 billion investment program is an outgrowth of the opportunity for tax savings created by the Tax and Jobs Act," said David Abney, UPS Chairman and Chief Executive Officerbs Act.. "We will increase network investments and accelerate pension funding to strengthen the company for the long term, so that we maximize the benefit to our global customers, employees and shareowners." UPS also recently made a $5 billion tax-qualified contribution to the company's three UPS-sponsored U.S. pension plans. This represents about $13,000 per participant. The voluntary contribution raised the funding level to above 90-percent, securing retirement benefits on behalf of...

Associated Press Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a recent interview that President Trump’s tax plan would result in a faster-growing economy and greater job creation. In an interview with ABC News, Cook discussed a number of recent announcements by Apple, including their plan to invest $350 billion in the U.S. economy over the next five years and how President Trump’s tax plan will help the U.S. economy. Cook refused to “take a position” on how the new tax plan will affect individual Americans but commented on the corporate tax saying, “I do believe the corporate side will result in...

The tax plan that President Trump signed into law last week creates one of the largest new loopholes in decades: a 20% deduction for “pass-through income.” Pass-through income is business income that is immediately “passed through” to the owner’s personal tax return, thereby avoiding the corporate income tax. Proponents of the Republican tax plan claim the cut benefits small businesses, but that’s a red herring. In reality, the new deduction disproportionately benefits the wealthy, penalizes workers and, in part because it is so complex, will ultimately reward those who can afford the best tax advice. The new deduction could have...

President Donald Trump can make corporate America great, or at least more competitive, after he signed the tax bill into law Friday, according to a MarketWatch survey of the large multinational members of Dow Jones Industrial Average. Almost all the companies that responded applauded the legislation, mostly in the broadest sense and largely in corporate-speak without specifics, saying the lowered corporate tax rate would “allow” or “enhance” the ability of U.S.-headquartered companies to compete more fairly with overseas-based companies. The new tax law lowers the maximum corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. Although a few companies said the new...

The Republican tax reform package agreed upon by House and Senate lawmakers contains language allowing illegal immigrants with American citizen children to get a tax credit. The final GOP tax bill doubles the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000 and increases the amount of the refundable child tax credit to $1,400. This policy change geared towards helping working class families was pushed by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. The conference bill includes language from the Senate tax plan that allowed parents of so-called “anchor babies” to receive the tax credit. “In order to receive the child tax credit (i.e., both...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans didn’t get their wish to repeal former President Barack Obama’s health care law, but the tax bill barreling toward a final vote in Congress guts its most unpopular provision, the requirement that virtually all Americans carry health insurance. Politically, the move is a winner for Republicans, who otherwise would have little to show for all their rhetoric about “Obamacare.”

All main stock benchmarks closed at records on Friday with the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average extending their weekly winning streak to four as Republicans prepared to outline their final version of the tax bill. Stocks have been sensitive to developments from Capitol Hill on the tax bill and any news that is viewed as a step closer to enacting tax cuts tend to buoy market sentiment. The Dow rose 140 points, or 0.6%, to close at 24,648. The S&P 500 climbed 23 points, or 0.9%, to end at 2,675 while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 80...

GOP leaders on Wednesday agreed on a final tax cut plan that would lower the corporate rate to 21% and drop the top individual rate to 37%, according to a Republican source briefed on the deal. Earlier House and Senate versions of the measure would have lowered the corporate rate to 20%, but in reconciling the two plans, leaders needed to nudge up the corporate rate in order to pay for benefits elsewhere.

The Republican tax reform bill would still allow illegal immigrants to claim a key tax credit, despite earlier calls from conservative lawmakers to end what they say is a multi-billion dollar annual reward for lawbreakers. Under both the House and Senate versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, illegal immigrants with taxpayer identification numbers may claim the child tax credit for any of their U.S.-born children. The original version of the Republican tax bill introduced in the House Ways and Means Committee stipulated that the refundable credit would not be available unless the “taxpayer includes the taxpayer’s Social Security...

The GOP tax plan was passed through the Senate Friday night in a 51-49 vote. There are a number of things included in the last-minute text, including a provision by Sen. Gardner of Colorado that exempts Kombucha, a fermented tea drink, from alcoholic taxes and regulations. Why it matters: These are small examples of what got slipped in the bill last-minute as the Senate vote neared, and reveals some of the senators' pet projects back in their home states. Odd amendments included in the tax plan: Sen. Orrin Hatch Prohibit things like cash and gift cards to be given as...

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in response to the Republican tax bill passing the Senate: The GOP tax bill that passed the Senate by one vote is nothing but an attack on America’s workers. We will pay more, corporations and billionaires will pay less. It’s a job killer. It gives billions of tax giveaways to big corporations that outsource jobs and profits. President Trump said that he wanted to lower taxes for everyone as a Christmas gift to America, but this bill is simply a lump of coal to working families across the country. The only real gift is...

As the Senate advances on its tax-cut bill while House Republicans have passed their version, MarketWatch has the calculator to show how the bills would potentially impact your finances. The legislation, called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, cuts individual tax rates and slashes corporate taxes, among other things. But not everyone’s a winner. The mortgage-interest deduction is limited, and state and local income tax deductions are zapped in both the House and Senate plan. The plan from the upper chamber also eliminates the state and local property tax deduction. The calculator includes the new rates and child-tax credit unveiled...

<p>I calculated federal income taxes for two hypothetical working class couples filing jointly under the new senate proposal compared to current law, taking the standard deduction in each case (see the pdf at source).</p> <p>The first working class family has a combined income of $100,000 and if my calculations are NOW correct would owe $10,948 in federal income taxes under current law with an effective tax rate of 10.9%.</p>

The House and Senate have now each passed different versions of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Both bills are big improvement to America’s out-of-date tax code and could boost the economy by almost 3 percent, leading to more jobs and higher wages for working Americans. Both bills cut taxes for individuals and businesses, largely repeal the state and local tax deduction, and allow businesses to invest more in the American economy through temporary expensing. The bills now head to a conference committee where a unified bill will be crafted. Here are some of the major differences you need to know...

The Republican Party’s tax reform proposal is a “moral abomination,” retired founder of investment management firm The Vanguard Group John C. Bogle said Tuesday, the same day the Senate Budget Committee voted to advance the bill. The proposal, which House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) vowed would slash the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, is also an “experiential abomination,” Bogle said at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Republican Sen. John McCain announced his support Thursday for the Senate tax reform bill, boosting the chances for passage of the sweeping legislation.

If you have ever wondered why leaders of liberal cities and states become giddy at any new spending opportunity – investments into light rail infrastructure, social programs for illegal aliens, public schools that look like palaces, billion-dollar sports stadiums – it is not because they are more public-minded than Republicans, or possess an innate sense of altruism. It is because such projects get them re-elected, especially when people other than their constituents are picking up the tab. And, thanks largely to the State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction for federal income tax purposes, that is exactly what is happening. In...

Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) are demanding that the tax reform bill include a trigger that automatically raises taxes in the future if tax receipts fall below projections. This is a bad idea. Raising taxes is never a good policy, but this provision also adds complexity and uncertainty to the tax code that will limit its impact on economic growth. Bob Corker and Jeff Flake want people to believe they're concerned about the deficit, but if that were true they would not have supported so many bills to increase the debt limit and increase spending. If there...

The House and Senate are considering tax legislation that will add $1.5 trillion to annual deficits over the next 10 years, according to their own numbers. This is okay, we're told, because the tax cuts will stoke economic growth, delivering added tax revenue that offsets the rate reductions. Note the bigger point here. Republicans still say they don’t like deficits — but apparently, this particular plan lets them cut taxes without adding more debt. It’s a miracle. Is their claim really true? Will the GOP tax plans boost economic growth? That’s the 1.5-trillion-dollar question. Theory vs. Reality The Republican plan’s...

Year-end tax planning will take on extra significance — and complexity — this year, given the likelihood that congressional Republicans will try to get a tax bill passed before Dec. 31 to claim a legislative victory for 2017. The normal year-end tax advice goes like this: Figure out if you will be in a higher or lower income tax bracket next year. If your tax rate is likely to go up next year, try to accelerate any income you can into this year and defer deductions until next year, so that your taxable income is higher this year and lower...